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A 
 
 ON 
 
 OMAHCS 
 
 AND 
 
 /Iftin^trele^. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH RITSON. 
 
 TO WHICH IS APPENDED 
 
 THE ANCIENT METRICAL ROMANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 Edinburgh : 
 
 E. & G. GOLDSMlb. 
 
 1891. 
 
This Edition is limited to 400 copies on dimy Svo, and loo copies (Large 
 Paper) on deniy ifo paper. 
 
ORIGINAL ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE nature, importance, and utility of such a publication 
 as the present have been displayed to so much advantage 
 by a writer of the highest eminence for his acquaintance with 
 the subject, and for his ingenuity and taste, that it would be 
 almost an act of injustice to the undertaking not to make use 
 of such a powerful and elegant recommendation, to which no 
 attempt of the present editor could possibly be equal. 
 
 "As many of these Metrical Histories and Romances 
 contain a considerable portion of poetic merit, and throw a great 
 light on the manners and opinions of former times, it were to 
 be wished that some of the best of them were rescued from 
 oblivion. A judicious collection of them, accurately published, 
 with proper illustrations, would be an important accession to 
 our stock of ancient English literature. Many of them exhibit 
 no mean attempts at epic poetry, and though full of the exploded 
 fictions of chivalry, frequently display great and inventive powers 
 in the bards who composed them. They are at least generally 
 equal to any other poetry of the same age. They cannot indeed 
 be put in competition with the nervous productions of so universal 
 and commanding a genius as Chaucer ; but they have a simpli- 
 city that makes them be read with less interruption, and be more 
 easily understood; and they are far more spirited and enter- 
 taining than the tedious allegories of Gower, or the dull and 
 prolix legends of Lydgate ; yet, while so much stress is laid upon 
 the writings of these last, by such as treat of English poetry, the 
 old metrical romances, though far more popular in their time, 
 
 are hardly known to exist Should the public encourage 
 
 the revival of some of those ancient epic songs of chivalry, they 
 
Adoertisement. 
 
 would frequently see the rich ore of an Ariosto or Tasso, though 
 buried, it may be, among the rubbish and dross of barbarous 
 times. 
 
 "Such a publication would answer many important uses: it 
 would throw new light on the rise and progress of English poetry, 
 the history of which can be but imperfectly understood, if these 
 are neglected : it would also serve to illustrate innumerable 
 passages in our ancient classic poets, which, without their help, 
 must be for ever obscure." 
 
 The publication so much desired, and so eloquently recom- 
 mended by this learned and ingenious writer, has been at length 
 undertaken and to what he has said in its favour nothing 
 remains to be added but some little information as to the mode 
 in which it makes its appearance. 
 
 This collection, then, of Ancient English Metrical 
 Romances, consists of such pieces as, from a pretty general 
 acquaintance, have been selected for the best. Every article is 
 derived from some ancient manuscript, or old printed copy, of 
 the authenticity of which the reader has all possible satisfaction ; 
 and is printed with an accuracy, and adherence to the original, of 
 which the public has had very few examples. The utmost care 
 has been observed in the Glossary, and every necessary or 
 useful information (to the best of the editor's judgment) is given 
 in the Notes. 
 
 Brought to an end with much industry, and more attention, 
 in a continued state of ill-health and low spirits, the editor 
 abandons it to general censure, with cold indifference, expecting 
 little favour, and less profit; but certain, at any rate, to be 
 insulted by the malignant and calumnious personalities of a base 
 and prostitute gang of lurking assassins, who stab in the dark, and 
 whose poisoned daggers he has already experienced. 
 
DISSERTATION 
 
 ON 
 
 ROMANCE AND MINSTRELSY. 
 
 § I. Origin of Romance. 
 
 If what is called a metrical romance, in its most extensive 
 acceptation, be properly defined a fabulous narrative, or fictitious 
 recital in verse, more or less marvellous or probable, it may be 
 fairly concluded that this species of composition was known at a 
 very early period to the Greeks, and in process of time adopted 
 from them by the Romans. The Iliad of Homer in short, the 
 Odyssey ascribed to the same poet,* the Argonauticks of Onoma- 
 critus, or Orpheus of Crotona, those likewise of ApoUonius 
 Rhodiusf and the Hero and Leander of Mussbus, among the 
 
 * It seems highly probable that both these poems were not written by the same 
 person. In the latter, the goddess Venus is the wife of Vulcan, who surprises her 
 in the act of adultery with Mars (B. 8) : 
 
 " Mean time the bard, alternate to the strings, 
 The loves of Mars and Cytherea sings." 
 In the former they have no sort of connection. Venus has no husband and Vulcan 
 has a different wife (B. 13) : 
 
 " Charts, his spouse, a grace divinely fair, 
 With purple fillets round her braided hair." 
 Such an inconsistency, it is believed, cannot be easily detected in any other poet. 
 It has been, moreover, a very generally received opinion that he was likewise the 
 author of a mock-epic, entitled Batrachomuomachia, or The Battle oflheFrogs and 
 Mice. It is by no means probable that the oldest manuscript copies of Homer's 
 poems should exhibit his name in the title, or colophon ; and as it never occurs 
 in the book, it must have been retained, if at all, by tradition. It should be 
 remembered at the same time, that he is mentioned by no writer till between 400 
 and 500 years after his death. 
 
 t This poem, according to Quadrio, was treated by many as a Grecian romance 
 of chivalry {Storia d'ogni Poesia, iv., 453). It is the original of the northern 
 romances of Jason, and Medea. " 11 faut remarquer," observes Huet, "pour 
 Ihonneur des troubadours qu' Homfere I' a estd devant eux " {£>e I'Origine des 
 Romans, i(rj%, p. 123). Virgil makes Dido to reign at Carthage in the time of 
 
Ancient English 
 
 former, and the ^neid of Virg-il, the Metamorphosis of Ovid, 
 the Argonauticks of Valerius Flaccus, and the Thehaid of Statiust 
 among the latter, however distinguished by superior art and merit, 
 or the more illustrious appellation of epic poems, are, m reality, 
 as perfect metrical romances as the stories of King Arthur and 
 Charlemagne, all those venerable monuments of ancient genius 
 being no less the work of imagination and invention than the more 
 modern -effusions, upon similar subjects, of the French and Norman 
 trouveres, or Italian romanzieri. The Trojan story is no more 
 fabulous and unfounded in the oldest French romance on that 
 subject in point of historical fact, than it is in the Iliad or JEneid; 
 nor is the siege of Troy, as related by Homer, at all more certain 
 or more credible than that of Albracca as asserted by Boiardo ; nor 
 are Hector and Achilles of more identity than Roland and Oliver. 
 It seems, therefore, a very hasty assertion of the historian of English 
 poetry, that the "peculiar and arbitrary species of fiction, which we 
 commonly call romance, was entirely unknown to the writers of 
 Greece and Rome. "J Was this voluminous author unacquainted 
 with the romances of Antonius Diogenes, of which Photius has given 
 an account, the love tales of Longus, Heliodorus, and Xenophon 
 of Ephesus ? He himself even cites an old English version of the 
 Clito^hon and Leucippe of Achilles Tatius (though actually in plain 
 prose), "as a POETICAL NOVEL of GREECE; " and at any rate a 
 novel is a species of romance. 
 
 The Milesian tales of Aristides, likewise, so famous in their day, 
 though none of them now remain, must have been some kind of 
 romances, whether in prose or verse. A copy of these tales — or at 
 least the Latin version of Sisenna — according to Plutarch, was, after 
 the defeat of Crassus, in Parthia, found in the baggage of Roscius, 
 a Roman officer. 
 
 Homer, in fact, is much more extravagant and hyperbolical — or 
 sublime, if it must be so — than Ariosto himself, the very prince of 
 
 jEneas, though in reality she did not arrive in Africa till three hundred years after 
 the supposed destruction of Troy. Such a violent anachronism is only admissible 
 in a romance. 
 
 * Chaucer, in his Dreme, to pass the night away, rather than play at chess, 
 calls for a romaace, in which " were writtin fables of quenis livis, and of liings 
 and many other thingis small." This proves to be Ovid. See V., 52, etc., or 
 Warton's History of English Poetry, i., 388. 
 
 t The ingenious doctor, or Bishop Percy, who has great v^eight in matters of 
 this sort, says of Lybeus disconus, of which he has given an excellent analysis, 
 " If an epic poem may be defined ' A fable related by a poet to excite admiration 
 a,nd inspire virtue, by representing the action of some one hero, favoured by 
 heaven, who executes a great design in spite of all the obstacles that oppose him ; ' 
 I know not why we should withhold the name of epic poem from the piece 
 which I am about to analyse (or that of ROMANCK to the epic poem above 
 defined)." (Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, III., xxviii. ; citing Discours 
 sur la podsic 4piquc prefixed to Teletnachus.) 
 
 I tlistory of English Poetry, i., sig. a. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 romance. His poetical machinery is composed of the Grecian 
 deities (worshipped and adored by himself and his countrymen), 
 who take a decided part on each side, fight, and are wounded or 
 victorious, like the ordinary mortals with whom they engage. Many 
 of his heroes, at the same time, are the offspring of these identical 
 and illusory divinities ; as Helen, for instance, the fatal authoress of 
 this sanguinary ten years' war, was the daughter of Jupiter, the 
 supreme god of the Greeks, by Leda, whose embraces he experi- 
 enced in the form of a swan ; the issue, of course, was an e.gg, out 
 of which proceeded this female firebrand, who must, however, have 
 been pretty far advanced in years long before her elopement with 
 the juvenile and gallant Paris, having been ravished by Theseus 
 forty years before, and being now, of course, like our Queen Eliza- 
 beth, a matchless beauty in her grand climacterick. The two demi- 
 gods — Castor and Pollux, her brethren — came into the world in the 
 same miraculous way. Achilles, likewise, the celebrated champion 
 of the Greeks, was the son of Thetis, a sea-goddess ; as jEneas, the 
 pretended founder of the Roman empire, was of Venus, the goddess 
 of love ; and all these fancies of a poetical imagination are to be 
 firmly believed, though nothing more than mere romance. With 
 respect to the famous city of Troy, which stood so long a siege, and 
 was laid " at last in ashes," there is not the slightest evidence that 
 such a place even existed, in or before, that is, the sera fixed upon 
 by this immortal rhapsodist ; and the antagonists of Mister Bryant, 
 the only modem author who has attempted to demolish this mag- 
 nificent but ideal fabric,* have reasoned, like the advocates of 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth, by arguments and authorities — that is, 
 deduced from Homer himself, or writers who lived many centuries 
 after him. Herodotus, however, the father of Grecian history, who 
 flourished (according to his own account) about four hundred years 
 after Homer, whose works he must needs have been familiar with, 
 since he wrote his life, and cites them in his history, is a decisive 
 evidence that no such expedition ever took place. 
 
 Being a professed antiquary, he must necessarily, from his as- 
 siduous researches into the remotest periods of Grecian history, or 
 at least from the traditions which would be naturally preserved of so 
 important and celebrated an event in the very country from which 
 these heroic kings and princes, with their ships and forces, had 
 proceeded, have known if such an expedition had taken place. He 
 appears, on the contrary, to have known or heard, at least amongst 
 his own countrymen, nothing at all of the matter, except what he 
 himself and everyone else had read in Homer, and certain spurious 
 
 * The existence of the Trojan war was disputed by Dio Chrysostom more than a 
 thousand years ago. Even Homer himself has been proved by his last edito'r, the 
 learned Wolf, incapable to write or read ; nor does either writing or reading 
 appear, from his elaborate Prologomena, to have been known till many centuries 
 after the sera of Homer. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Cyprian verses, falsely ascribed to that same illustrious bard ; for, 
 going into yEgypt, peradventure for this express purpose: "When 
 inquiring," says he, "whether the Greeks have related falsehoods 
 concerning the deeds performed at Ilium, or not, the priests an- 
 swered me thus — that they knew, from Menelaus himself, that, 
 Helen being carried off, great forces of the Greeks had come to the 
 assistance of Menelaus into Teucris ; which, having landed and 
 fortified a place, sent messengers to Ilium, with whom, also, Mene- 
 laus went himself ; that these, after they had entered the walls, not 
 only demanded Helen and the treasures which Alexander by robbery 
 had carried away, but also required the atonements of injuries ; 
 that the Teucrians, however, both then and afterward, either sworn 
 or unsworn, had related the same things ; that they themselves had 
 neither Helen nor the treasures whereof they were accused, but that 
 all those things were in ^gypt ; that neither could they suffer them- 
 selves to be arraigned with justice of those goods which Proteus, the 
 King of -(Egypt, withheld ; that the Greeks, thinking themselves de- 
 rided, had so besieged Ilium, till at length they took it by storm ; 
 that the city being taken, when Helen did not appear, and they 
 heard the same defence as before, at last, faith being given to the 
 former words, the Greeks sent Menelaus himself to Proteus. When 
 this man arrived in .ffigypt, and ascended to Memphis in a ship, the 
 truth of the matter being explained, and himself welcomed with 
 hospitality, in a most honourable manner, he received Helen full of 
 injuries, and all his treasures."* 
 
 And such was the fable of the .Egyptian priests, which the 
 inquisitive historian appears to have swallowed as perfectly rational, 
 though in diametrical opposition to the infallible Homer. 
 
 The Odyssey, whether by that same poet or not, is devoid of truth 
 from beginning to end, and abounds with adventures as hyperbolical 
 or extravagant as those of any French romance. The historian of 
 English poetry justly observes that " all the romances have an 
 enchantress, who detains the knight from his quest by objects of 
 pleasure ; and who is nothing more than the Calypso of Homer", and 
 the Armida of Tasso (or the Alcina of Ariosto)." 
 
 Huet, who imagined it of the essence of a romance to be in prose, 
 professes not to treat of those in verse, much less of epic poems ; 
 which beside that they are in verse have, moreover, different essen- 
 tials which distinguish them from romances, though otherwise he 
 admits there is a very great relation ; and following the maxim of 
 Aristotle (who teaches that a poet is more a poet by the fictions he 
 invents than by the verse he composes), makers of romances may be 
 ranked among the poets. 
 
 After Statius there is no metrical romance writer or epic poet, in 
 the Latin tongue, known to have existed before Joseph of Exeter, 
 
 Euterpe, § ii8. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 called by some Cornelius Nepos, who wrote, in six books, Of the 
 Trojan War, and, in one book, The War of Antioch, and 
 flourished, according to Bale, about the year 1210; or Philip 
 Gualtier, a Frenchman, author of The Alexandreid, or actions of 
 Alexander the Great, about the same period ; all three in imitation 
 of Lucan or Statius. 
 
 It appears, however, difficult to demonstrate that the compara- 
 tively modem romances of the French owe their immediate origin 
 to the epic poetry, or fabulous tales, of the Greeks or Romans ; but 
 it may be fairly admitted, as by no means improbable, that these 
 remains of ancient literature had some degree of influence, though 
 the connection is too remote and obscure to admit of elucidation. 
 
 The Latin language continued, after the dissolution of the Roman 
 empire, to be in use with the common people of France and Italy ; 
 but ceasing, it may be, to be studied grammatically, and becoming 
 gradually intermixed with the barbarous jargons of the different 
 northern nations which had subjugated or expelled the Romans, 
 and occupied their seats till about the ninth century, an entirely 
 new speech or dialect gained a complete ascendency in both. 
 
 At one period, it is said, there were not less than three distinct 
 languages spoken in France : the old Celtic or Gaulish, the 
 Latin ; and this new dialect, called the Roman, or Romance, — a 
 mixture, it would seem, of Latin, Frankish, and Celtic, the last of 
 which, it is supposed, was speedily exterminated.* The term Roman 
 ought, in fact, to have been the distinguishing characteristic of the 
 Latin tongue, which the French appear to have understood at the 
 beginning of the seventh century ;t but this was by no means the 
 case, as will appear from a passage quoted by Fauchet from the 
 Roman d' Alexandre, composed, he says, by persons living in the 
 year 1150 : 
 
 "La verte de l' histoir' si com.' li roix la fit, 
 Un clers de Chasteaudun, Lambert li Cors /' escrit, 
 Qui de Latin la trest, el en Roman la mil." 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that Latin and Roman were different lan- 
 guages ; since this poet drew a history out of the latter to put it 
 into the former. It is true, he observes, that these verses are made 
 more than three hundred years after Charlemagne, { and although 
 it were not so, that one understood five hundred years ago that to 
 
 * See a good account of the conversion, or perversion, of the Latin tongue into 
 Italian, from authentic documents, in Muratori's Antiquitates Italics, ii., 990. 
 
 t See Le Beuf's Reclierches, etc. , Memoires de I'Aca. des inscrip., xvii., 712. 
 
 X It is said of this emperor, by Eginhart, his chaplain or secretary, that "he 
 wrote down and committed to memory the barbarous and most ancient songs, in 
 which the acts and wars of the old kings were sung" (c. xxix.). These in all 
 Hkelihood were in the Theotisc or Teutonic language, mentioned in the text. 
 In Schiller's Thesaurus are two very ancient poems in this dialect, on the e.xpe- 
 ditions of that emperor. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 speak the rustic Soman was the common language of the inhabi- 
 tants on this side of the Meuse, it only behoves to read that which 
 Nitard hath written in his history of the discord of the children of 
 the emperor Lewis, the dehonnair, happening in the year 841. For, 
 making mention of Lewis, King of Germany, and of Charles the 
 Bald, King of Western France (that is to say, between the Meuse 
 and the Loire), he says that the two kings, willing to assure those 
 who had followed them that this alliance should be perpetual, they 
 spoke each to the people of his ;pair (the word of which Nitard 
 makes use), to wit, Lewis, King of Germany, to the Western French, 
 who followed Charles, in the Roman tongue (that is to say, the 
 rustic), and Charles, to those of Lewis, who were Austrasians, 
 Germans, Saxons, and other inhabitants beyond the Rhine, in the 
 Teutonic tongue. The words of the oath which Lewis took, in the 
 Roman tongue, were such as, saith our author, I have taken from 
 a book written more than five hundred years ago : "Pro don amur 
 & ^ro christian ^oblo Of nostro comm-un salvament, dist di en 
 avant in quant deus Savir 6° ;potir me dunat, si salvarai eo cest 
 ■mean fradre karlo, &, in adjudta & i?t cadhuna cosa, si cum 
 hom ^er dreit son fradre salvar dist, ino quid it im,i altre si 
 faret, et ab Ludher nul ^laid nunquam. frindrai, qui Tneon 
 vol cest meon fradre Karle in damno sit." * The people of 
 Westria answered in the same language: "Si Lodhwigs sacra- 
 tnent que son fradre karlo jurat conservat & Karlus, meos 
 sendra, de fuo ;part nan los tanit ; si io returnar non lint j>ois 
 in ne io, ne neuls, cui eo returnar nit j>ois in nulla adjudha 
 contra Lodhuwig nun li iver." f He elsewhere says (from a very 
 ancient copy of Nitard,J extant in the library of Magloire at Paris), 
 that Lewis, as the elder, swore first in the Roman tongue, as before. 
 This oath being made, Charles said the same words in Teutonic or 
 Theotisc : "In godes m,inna, ind durhtes Xristianes folches ind 
 infer bedhero gehaltnissi fonthesem,o dage frammordes, so f ram 
 so mir got gewizeindi mahd furgibit, so halt ih tesan minan 
 bruodher so so man mit rehtu sinan bruodher seal, inthi ut 
 hazer mig so so maduo, maduo, indi mit Lutherem. inno thein- 
 
 * Corrected from Bouquet, vii. 36. In English thus : " For the love of God 
 and of the Christian people, and for our common safety, from this day forward, 
 insomuch as God will give me knowledge and power, I shall save my brother 
 Charles, and I will aid him in everything, as a man by right ought to serve his 
 brothers, in this that he will do as much of it for me ; and I shall not make with 
 Lothair any treaty with my will, which may be prejudicial to my brother Charles." 
 
 t Corrected as above. In Enghsh thus : "If Lewis keep the oath which he 
 has sworn to his brother Charles, and Charles, my lord, on his part, do not hold 
 it ; if I cannot divert him from it, nor myself or others can divert him from it, we 
 shall not go with any aid against Lewis." 
 
 X De la Langue b' Poesie FraK(;oise. ch. iv. La Combe only gives the oath of 
 Lewis, and the answers ; and La RavailUere but one of the answers. 
 
Metrical Romances. ii 
 
 nithing ne gegango zhe initian willon imo ce scadhen werhen.'" 
 The most learned Germans of our author's day thought that this 
 language held more of the Prison than of any other dialect of 
 Germany. After this, the people swore each in his own tongue, 
 to wit, those of Charles these words: "Si Luduwigs," etc., as 
 before ; and the people of King Lewis these words in Theotisc, or 
 Teutonic : " Oba karl then eid, then er sinemo bruodher Lud- 
 huwig gesuor geleistit, inde Ludhumig min herro then er imo 
 gesuor for brie hit, ob ih ina nes arwenden nemag, noh ih, noh 
 thero thein his inewenden mag, imo ce follusti widhar karle ne 
 wirdhit." Our author himself found that the Roman language 
 approached to the Proven9al, or Lyonnois, more than to his own, 
 on the north of the Loire.* 
 
 The present Swiss have the Bible en Rumansch, that is, in their 
 vulgar tongue, and use the same expression for that of the French. t 
 The Spaniards still call their native language rom-ance Castellano ; 
 and hablar en rom.ance is to speak Spanish. 
 
 In the library of Berne is a MS. of the thirteenth or fourteenth 
 century (Num. 646), entitled " Le livre du tresor lequel maistre 
 Brunes . . . transtata de Latin en KomsLUs." X 
 
 In about a couple of centuries afterwards the word Roman was 
 used by the French, not only as designative of their language, but 
 also of any book written therein, though in process of time it was 
 confined to books of chivalry,§ as rom.ance was to a ballad or 
 narrative song. 
 
 " 2'outesfois," says the old prose Rom.an de Paris et Vienne, 
 "le frere ne pensoit pas parler Romain" {i.e., Fran9ois). In 
 Spanish, to this day, romance means both the vernacular language 
 and a vulgar ballad ; while rom-anzi, in Italian, is appropriated 
 solely to books of chivalry in rhyme. 
 
 An ancient topographer (supposed to be Girald Barry, Bishop of 
 St David's, commonly called Giraldus Cam.brensis) even uses the 
 word Romane for the English, or vulgar language of his own time : 
 ^' Ab ilia aqua oj>tima," says he, " giccs Scottice {sub. Hibernice) 
 vocata est Froth. Britannice (Wallice, sci.) Verid, Romane [i.e., 
 Anglice) vero Scotte-wattre, i aqua Scottorum."|| He means the 
 Firth of Forth. 
 
 * Des AntiquiUs FraiK^oises, i6io, 410, Book IX., ch. vi., fo. 330, 331. Cor- 
 rected from Bouquet, vii. 35, etc. 
 
 t Ibid., 1610, 4to, Book IX., ch. vi., fo. 34. 
 
 J Sinner's Catalogue, iii., 20. 
 
 § " All is calde geste Inglis, 
 
 That on this language spoken is, 
 
 Franke's spech is cald romance, 
 
 So says clerkes and men of France." 
 
 ROBEET OP BUUNNE, p. cvi. 
 
 II Innes's Critical Essay, 770. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 The learned Tyrwhitt, with obvious plausibility, thinks it evident 
 that poets in the vulgar languages, who first appeared about the 
 ninth century, borrowed their rhymes from the hymns of St. Ambrose 
 and St. Damasus as early as the fourth, and from the Christian 
 poets Sedulius and Fortunatus in the fifth and sixth, and the other 
 Latin poetry of that age. There is even a Latin song in rhyme 
 extant in print, which was made upon a great victory, obtained by 
 King Clothair the Second, over the Saxons, in the year 622, and 
 serves to support the above opinion that the vulgar poets of that 
 period had already adopted the art of rhyming from the hymns of 
 the Church. It proves, also, that the Latin tongue was still in use 
 even among the common soldiers in the seventh century. The 
 following stanza is offered as a specimen : 
 
 " De Clotario est earner e rege Francoruniy 
 Qui ivit ;pugnare cum. gente Saxonum, 
 Quam graviter ^rovenisset missis Saxonum, 
 Si non fuisset inclitus Faro de gente Burgundianum."* 
 
 There is likewise an elegy, composed by Gotescalc in his exile, 
 which has both rhyme and poetry : 
 
 " Ut quid jubes, pusiole, 
 Quare mandas, filiole. 
 Carmen dulce me cantare. 
 Cum sim longe exul valde, 
 
 Intra mare, 
 Ocur jubes canere ? " 
 
 Many of the church hymns, about that period, are in the same 
 metre. The most numerous, however, and decisive proofs, are to 
 be found in the Antiquitates Italia of Muratori.f 
 
 There is an instance, in Usher's Prim,ordia, of a couplet in Irish 
 rhyme, made by St. Patrick in the fifth century, t 
 
 Different authors have attributed the origin of romance to three 
 sources, altogether remote from each other : — i . The Arabians ; 
 2. The Scandinavians ; 3. The Provencals. It appears, from an 
 observation of the historian of English poetry, "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 gene- 
 rally supposed to have been borrowed from the Arabians. . . It is 
 
 * L'Evgque dela Ravilliere, Poesies du Roi de Navarre, i,, 193. 
 " 'Tis time to sing of Clothair, King of French, 
 With Saxon people he who went to fight, 
 Their messengers he grievously had treated, 
 Had it not been for Pharaoh, the Burgundian." 
 Le Beuf has pubhshed another upon the Battle of Fontenay, in 841 (see Divers 
 icrits, i., 165). 
 t Dissertation XL. 
 t P. 450. 
 
Metrical Romances. 13 
 
 an established, maxim," he proceeds, "of modern criticism,* that 
 the fictions of Arabian imagination were communicated to the 
 western world by means of the crusades. . . But it is evident that 
 these fancies were introduced at a much earlier period ; the Saracens 
 or Arabians having entered Spain about the beginning of the eighth 
 century. t It is obvious to conclude, he continues, that at the same 
 time they disseminated those extravagant inventions which were so 
 peculiar to their romantic and creative genius. . . The ideal tales 
 of these eastern invaders, recommended by a brilliancy of descrip- 
 tion, a variety of imagery, and an exuberance of invention, were 
 eagerly caught up and universally diffused. From Spain, he asserts, 
 they soon passed into France and Italy.J It is for this reason, he 
 pretends, the elder Spanish romances have professedly more Arabian 
 allusions than any other. § There is, in fact, not one single French 
 romance now extant, and but one mentioned by any ancient writer, 
 which existed before the first crusade, under Godfrey, Earl of 
 Bologne, afterwards King of Jerusalem, in 1097. Neither is anything 
 known concerning the literature of the Moors, who came over from 
 Barbary and settled in Spain in 7 1 1 ; nor is it at all probable, or 
 capable of proof, that even the Spaniards, much less any of the 
 other nations of Europe, had an opportunity of adopting any literary 
 information, or did so, in fact, from a people with whom they had 
 no connection but as enemies, whose language they never under- 
 stood, and whose manners they detested, or would even have con- 
 descended, or permitted themselves, to make such an adoption from 
 a set of infidel barbarians who had invaded, ravaged, and possessed 
 themselves of some of the best and richest provinces of Spain, with 
 whom they had continual wars, till they at last drove them out of 
 the country; whom, in fact, they always avoided, abhorred, and 
 despised. There is, doubtless, a prodigious number of Arabic 
 poems in the library of the Escurial, which has been plundered from 
 the Moors, but which no Spanish poet ever made use of, or, in 
 short, had ever access to. It was not in the historian's power to 
 cite one single old Spanish romance that has the slightest Arabian 
 allusion, except, indeed, that of the Cid Ruy Bias, where, as in 
 those of Charlemagne, the Moors or Saracens are introduced as 
 enemies, and in two modern books, the Historia verdadera del rey 
 don Rodrigo, printed in 1592, and the Historia de los vandos de los 
 Zegries y Abencerrages, printed at Seville in 1598, and under the 
 title of Historia de las guerras civiles de Granada, at Paris, in 
 1600; both falsely pretended to have been translated from the 
 Arabic, and ridiculed, on that account, by Cei:vantes, who makes 
 
 * That he means, of Warburton and the Warburtonian school, of which the 
 distinguishing characteristics are want of knowledge, extreme confidence, and 
 habitual mendacity. 
 
 tl.,sig.<.. %\.,a.h. §1., m. 
 
14 Ancient English 
 
 use of the same pretence in his Quixote. The Spaniards are so far 
 from having any ancient historias de cavallerias, which we call 
 romances, that they have not a single ballad (which they call 
 romance) upon the subject of the Moors, except it may be a few 
 composed after, or about, the time of their expulsion, and extant in 
 the Romancero general., or other compilations of the like kind. 
 
 With respect to the Oriental literature for which we are indebted 
 to the Crusades, besides the Clericalis discij>liiia of Peter Alfonsus, 
 a converted Jew, baptized in 1106,* in which are many eastern tales, 
 there is but one single French romance in rhyme or prose of the 
 thirteenth or fourteenth century, which appears to have been taken 
 from an Arabian or Oriental source ; it is that of Cleomedes, by 
 King Adenes (a minstrel-monarch or herald), after "The story of 
 the enchanted horse," in The Thousand and One Nights. As to 
 the rest, this eloquent and flowery historian, whose duty it was to 
 ascertain truth from the evidence of facts and ancient documents, 
 and not to indulge his imagination in reverie and romance without 
 the least support or even colour of veracity or probability, has not 
 the slightest authority for this visionary system, but assumes with 
 confidence that which he knew himself unable to establish by 
 proof. 
 
 There are no limits, at the same time, to the extravagance of his 
 imagination or invention in thus wildly labouring to account for a 
 subject of which he had no adequate or rational conception nor 
 any authentic information. In France, he says, "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 Armorica 
 or Basse-Bretagne, now Brittany, for no part of France can boast of 
 so great a number of ancient romances. Many poems of high 
 antiquity composed by the Armorican bards still remain, and are 
 frequently cited by Father Lobinean in his learned history of 
 Basse-Bretagne. "t "On the whole," he adds, "we may venture to 
 afBirm that the chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth, supposed to 
 contain the ideas of the Welsh bards, entirely consists of Arabian 
 inventions." J It must be confessed that this poetical historian is 
 very ready, at a venture, to afBrm anything, however imaginary and 
 absurd. In another place he says : " Gormund, king of the 
 Africans, occurs ; ' ' and to prove how well he understood Geoffrey 
 of Monmouth, and how accurately this impostor was acquainted with 
 Arabian allusions, this Gormund, in authentic histoiy, was a king 
 of the Danes, who infested England in the ninth century, and was 
 defeated and baptized by Alfred. § 
 
 * See Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, iv., 325. f I. , o. 2. J I., h. 3. 
 
 § "That Stonehenge," he says, " is a British monument erected in memory of 
 Hengist's massacre, rests, I believe, on the sole evidence of Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 who had it from the British bards. But why should not the testimony of the British 
 bards be allowed on this occasion? For they did not invent facts so much as 
 
Metrical Romances. 15 
 
 In all this high-flown panegyric there is not a word of truth, nor 
 a particle of common-sense. There is no vestige or shadow of any 
 ancient authority that this pitiful nation, a small colony from South 
 Wales, or Cornwall in Britain, had any other fictions than such as 
 they had carried over with them ; nor is it true, excepting three 
 poems, if they deserve such an appellation, of so low a period as the 
 fifteenth century (a book of predictions, that is, of a pretended prophet 
 named Gwinglaif, the MS. whereof was of the year 1450 ; the life 
 of Gwenole, abbot of Landevenec, one of their fabulous saints, and 
 a little dramatic piece on the taking of Jerusalem), that they have 
 a single fragment of poetry in their vernacular language. The 
 learned priest who published the dictionary of Pelletier* after his 
 death, candidly admits " that the Armorican Britons have not 
 cultivated poetry, and the language, such as they speak it, does not 
 appear able to ply to the measure, or to the sweetness, or to the 
 harmony of verse. "t That they might or may have chanters or 
 musicians, which the French call minstrels, we fiddlers, and 
 themselves harz or bards, is sufficiently probable or certain, but if 
 by bard be meant a composer of possibly epic or lyric poetry in his 
 vernacular idiom, no proof can be adduced of such a character. At 
 any rate, that Father Lobineau "frequently," or even in one single 
 instance, cites "many poems of high antiquity," or any poem 
 whatever, ancient or modem, in the Armorican language, is a 
 most monstrous falsehood. The editor of this book has a right to 
 be thus positive, having repeatedly and unsuccessfully examined the 
 Histoire de Bretagne (a work, by the way, of no veracity or 
 authority, though in two ponderous folios), with a view to discover 
 these pretended citations, and has received an assurance to the like 
 effect from Francis Douce, Esq., whose intimate acquaintance with 
 every branch of French literature cannot possibly be disputed. 
 
 The pretended Breton Lais of a certain Marie de France, a 
 Norman poetess of the thirteenth century, will be considered 
 elsewhere. 
 
 In the circumstance just mentioned he says about Wales, of its 
 connection with Armorica, "We perceive the solution of a difficulty 
 which, at first sight, appears extremely problematical; I mean," 
 says he, " not only that Wales should have been so constantly made 
 the theatre of the old British chivalry, but that so many of the 
 
 fables. In the present case, Hengist's massacre is an allowed event. Even to this 
 day, the massacre of Hengist is an undisputed piece of history " (i. S3)- I" *« 
 first place, Geoffrey does not say that he had this intelligence ' ' from the British 
 bards," and, secondly, there is not a word of truth in this massacre by Hengist, 
 which Geoffrey borrowed from Nennius (c. 47). A similar story is related by 
 Witikind. 
 
 * Dictionnaire de la langue Bretoniie far dom Louis de Pelletier. Pans, 
 
 1752, /o. 
 
 f Preface, viii., ix. 
 
1 6 Ancient English 
 
 favourite fictions which occur in the early French romances, should 
 also be literally found in the tales and chronicles of the elder Welsh 
 bards."* In this passage also is scarcely a word of sense or truth. 
 The Welsh have no "tales" or "chronicles" to produce of the 
 " elder Welsh bards," nor by any other writer more early, at least, 
 than Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose fabulous British History, it 
 must be confessed, was seized with great avidity by the French 
 or Norman poets. If the Welsh have any such stories, they are 
 doubtless from the French or English, and, by way of further proof 
 of their recency, are all in PROSE, as, for instance, Lhyvyr y Great 
 from the Roman de S'- Graal, Ystori Boun o Hamtun, from that 
 of Beuves or Bevis of Southampton, Ystori Oicen ab Yrien, from 
 the Rom,an d' Ivain, the Cavalier au Lion or " Ywain " and 
 " Gawin "f ; and as to the idea of Warton, " that the Welsh bards 
 might have been acquainted with the Scandinavian scalds," nothing 
 was ever more extravagant or absurd.J 
 
 That the inhabitants of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, being 
 the latest converts to Christianity, retained their original manners 
 and opinions longer than the other nations of Gothic race,§ may 
 certainly be true, though such sort of conversion usually makes some 
 difference in those matters ; but it by no means follows that, there- 
 fore, they have preserved " more of the genuine compositions of their 
 ancient poets than their southern neighbours." This is a fact to 
 be proved, not by affirmative assertions, but by the production of 
 ancient manuscripts, or the testimony of contemporaneous or vera- 
 cious historians, neither of which is possessed by all or any one of 
 these three northern nations. ''Hence," however, it is maintained 
 that " the progress among them, from poetical history to poetical 
 fiction, is very discernible," — meaning, it is presumed, that they are 
 equally fabulous. They have some old pieces, it is said, that are in 
 effect complete romances of chivalry, || and a specimen is referred to 
 in the second volume of Northern Antiquities, etc., p. 148, etc., 
 the age whereof is not ascertained, nor do its contents perfectly 
 resemble any French or English romance that we are at all ac- 
 quainted with. In another part of the same work (page 321) are, 
 apparently, introduced the Ovidian tales oi Perseus and Andromeda, 
 under the no less fictitious names of Regner Lodbrog, or hairy 
 breeches, afterwards King of Denmark, and Thora, the beautiful 
 daughter of a Swedish prince, who was " guarded," as the poets 
 
 * I., a, 3, b. 
 
 t See Lhuyd's Archaologia, 265. 
 
 J Some such unauthorised opinion had already induced the elegant Gray to 
 polute his subUme Pindaric on the bards with the Scandic mythology, of which the 
 Britons had not a particle, and, for anything that appears, were totally ignorant. 
 
 § Reliqiies, etc., III., xi., xii., xiii. The eloquent passages of the original were 
 at first intended to be given at length, but retrenchment was found necessary. 
 
 II lieligues, etc.. III., xviii. 
 
Metrical Romances. 17 
 
 took occasion to say, "by a furious dragon;" and this, it seems, 
 upon the authority of Rcgnara Lodbrog's saga, which appears to be 
 in print, and has been also translated by the above learned and 
 ingenious prelate, who gives the passage thus : " We fought with 
 swords : when in Gothland I slew an enormous ser;pcnt: my reward 
 was the beauteous Thora. Thence I was deemed a man; they called 
 me Lodbrog from that slaughter. I thrust the monster through 
 with my spear, with the steel productive of splendid rewards." * 
 
 That they may likewise "have a multitude of sagas or histories 
 on romantic subjects, some of them written SINCE the time of the 
 Crusades," will be readily admitted; but there is not the slightest 
 proof or pretext for asserting that •' others" were so •' LONG before." 
 These sagas, in fact, are, for the most part, if not totally, trans- 
 lated, or imitated, from the French, and at the same time of very 
 recent date. The Saga of Ivenf England Ka;p;l>e, in the royal 
 library of Stockholm, is clearly the French romance of Yvain, or Le 
 Chevalier au Lion, both of the twelfth or thirteenth century, ac- 
 commodated apparently to the Scandic traditions.! A large collection 
 of such things is in the British Museum, transcribed chiefly between 
 the years 1660 and 1700, among which are the Saga af Likle Peiurs 
 og Magelona, Saga af Virgilio, Saga af Parcevals, Melusina og 
 Rem.undssaga,Remundar Keissara Saga, A;pollonius Saga, etc,,\ 
 all or most of which are well known French romances. The Danes 
 have no historian whatever before the eleventh century. § 
 
 It is not at all more probable, or at least there is no sort of 
 authority for supposing, that Rollo " doubtless carried many scalds 
 with him (into France or Neustria) from the north, who transmitted 
 their skill to their children and successors." It is, in fact, a mere 
 gratis dictum, a ^etetio ^rincipii, an unfounded conjecture, an 
 assertion without a proof. After the Normans had acquired the 
 Christian religion, adopted the French language, and French man- 
 ners, and in a word become perfect Frenchmen, they unquestionably 
 displayed equal, if not superior, talent and invention in the manu- 
 facture of romantic poems in that tongue ; all which, however, are 
 on French or British subjects ; and none of them can be asserted, 
 without a flagrant violation of truth and fact, to contain one single 
 allusion to the Iceland scalds, or Scandinavian poetry, none of 
 whose puerile and extravagant fictions can be proved of so early 
 an age. 
 
 There is not, in short, the weakest possible authority, the slightest 
 possible proof, that the minstrels were " the genuine successors of 
 
 * See Five Pieces of Runic Poetry, p. 27. Even Warton suspects that the 
 romantic amour between Regner and Aslanga is the forgery of a much later age 
 (I. , i. , 2, b). This scabby sheep, indeed, infects the whole flock. 
 
 t See Wanley's Antiqua LiteraturcB Septen. Catalogus, 325. 
 
 X See Mr. Ayscough's Catalogue, No. 4857, etc. 
 
 § Stephens' Notce in Saxonem, ii. 
 
 2 
 
Ancient English 
 
 T 
 
 the ancient BARDS, who, under different names, were admired and 
 revered, from tlie earliest ages, among the people of Gaul, Britam, 
 Ireland, and the North." It is a mere hypothesis, without the least 
 support from fact or history, or anything, in a word, but a visionary 
 or fanciful imagination. There is no connection, no resemblance, 
 between the scalds of Scandinavia and the minstrels of France ; nor 
 can any ancient historian be produced to countenance the extrava- 
 gant and absurd fables with which the introduction to the Histoire 
 de Dannemarck, by Mallet, translated into English under the title 
 of Northern Antiquities, is stuffed from beginning to end. The 
 original author was so ignorant as to confound the Cinibri "mfHa the 
 Cimmerii* and the Germans or Goths with the Celts or Gauls, 
 in defiance of ancient history and of common sense, without a word 
 of truth. The Edda itself, if not a rank forgery, is at least a com- 
 paratively modern book of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, 
 manifestly compiled long after Christianity was introduced into the 
 north,t nor was such a system of Paganism brought hither by either 
 Saxons or Danes, or ever entertained by any people in the world ; 
 nor are these scalds or poets ever mentioned by any old English 
 historian, though we have several of the Saxon times. Saxo, a very 
 ancient historian, knew nothing of any Odin but a magician, whom 
 the stupidity of the inhabitants of Upsal adored as a god, and sent 
 to him from Constantinople a golden image, out of which his wife 
 Frigga drew the gold, which being consumed he hung up the 
 statue on the brink of a precipice, and by the wonderful industry 
 of art, rendered it vocal at the human touch ; but, nevertheless, 
 Frigga, preferring the splendour of finery to divine honours, sub- 
 ected herself in adultery to one of her familiars, by whose cunning, 
 the image being demolished, the gold, consecrated to public super- 
 stition, she converted to the instrument of private luxury. Odin 
 then flies, but afterwards returns, and disperses the magicians who 
 had risen up in his absence. He attempts to kiss Rinda, daughter 
 to the king of the Ruthes, and receives a slap on the face. Accord- 
 ing to Torfffius, he even ravished this young lady ; but the passage, 
 on looking into Saxo, to whom he seems to refer, could not be found. 
 See, however. Series regum Danice, 149, where he supposes him 
 contemporary with Hading, King of Denmark, in the year 816 before 
 Christ. He is blind of an eye, etc. J There cannot be a more 
 
 * He calls the latter " Cimmerian Scythians," utterly ignorant that the Scythians 
 were the bitterest enemies of the Cimmerians, and actually drove them out pf 
 Europe into Asia. 
 
 t The pretended author Svorro (no bad name for a dreamer) brings down this 
 chronology thirty years after his death. See A'ort/iern Antiquities, II. xxii. This 
 outdoes Geoffrey of Monmouth. "Huet," according to Warlon, "is of opinion 
 that the Edda is entirely the production of Snorro's fancy " ; and cites Origin of 
 Romance, ii6 (I. h 4, /;, »», 2). 
 
 % He died in 1204 ; but has not one single date throughout his whole history. 
 
Metrical Romances. 19 
 
 ridiculous story of a Pagan deity ! The forged and fabulous Edda^ 
 indeed, speaks of another Odin, surnamed the Persian, the father of 
 the gods, to whom the origin of the art of the scalds was attributed, 
 and who, according to the lying coxcomb already noticed, was 
 defeated and put to flight by Pompey.* This groundless and absurd 
 falsehood is, likewise, adopted by the learned and ingenious 
 translator.! 
 
 After all, it seems highly probable that the origin of romance in 
 every age or country is to be sought in the different systems of 
 superstition which have from time to time prevailed, whether pagan 
 or Christian. The gods of the ancient heathens, and the saints of 
 the more modem Christians, are the same sort of imaginary beings, 
 who alternately give existence to romances, and receive it from 
 them. The legends of the one, and the fables of the other, have 
 been constantly fabricated for the same purpose, and with the same 
 view— the promotion of fanaticism, which, being mere illusion, can 
 only be excited or supported by romance ; and, therefore, whether 
 Homer made the gods, or the gods made Homer, is of no sort of 
 consequence, as the same effect was produced by either cause. 
 There is this distinction, indeed, between the heathen deities and 
 the Christian saints, that the fables of the former were indebted for 
 their existence to the flowery imagination of the sublime poet, and 
 the legends of the latter to the gloomy fanaticism of a lazy monk or 
 stinking priest. 
 
 If the hero of a romance be occasionally borrowed from heaven, 
 he is as often sent thither in return. John of Damascus, who 
 fabricated a pious romance of Barlaam and Josa;phat, in the 
 eighth century, was the cause of these creations of his fanciful 
 bigotry and interested superstition being placed in the empyreal 
 galaxy, and worshipped as saints. Even Roland and Oliver, the 
 forged and fabulous existences of the pseudo Turpin, or some other 
 monkish or priestly impostor, have attained the same honour.^ This 
 idea is rendered the more plausible, if not positive, by the most 
 ancient romances of chivalry, those of Charlemagne, for instance, 
 and his Paladins, Arthur and his knights of the round table, Guy, 
 Bevis, and so forth ; all of whom are the strenuous and successful 
 champions of Christianity, and mortal enemies of the Saracens, 
 whom they voluntarily and wantonly invade, attack, persecute, 
 slaughter, and destroy. It was not, therefore, without reason, 
 said by whomsoever, that the first romances were composed to 
 
 * P- 59- 
 
 t Seliques; III. xvi. 
 
 % See Quadrio, Storia d'ogni Poesia, ii. 594, where, from the annals of Pighi, he 
 gives the following extract: -'In Roncisvalle i sauti Orlando, conte e faladino 
 cenomanense nepoie di Carlo magna, e Oliviero, dtica di Ginevra martir ; e sono 
 ceMrati da altri a 21 di Maggio e i altri a 17 del medesiino mese." It is, indeed, 
 somewhat difficult to iix the precise er.a of a saint that never existed. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 promote the Crusades, during which period, it is certain, they 
 were the most numerous ; and to prove how radically these mis- 
 chievous and sanguinary legends were impressed upon the minds 
 of a bigoted and idiotic people for a series of no less than five 
 centuries, about the year 1600 appeared "the famous history of 
 the seven champions of Christendom," in which the Roland, 
 Oliver, Guy, Bevis, etc., the fabulous heroes of old romance, are 
 metamorphosed into Saint George, Saint Denis, Saint James, Saint 
 Anthony, Saint Andrew, Saint Patrick, and St. David, the no less 
 fabulous heroes of legend and religious imposture, most of whom 
 receive a certain amount of adoration, like the pagan deities of 
 old, by the dedication of churches, devotional days, and the like; 
 which celebrated work being a compound of superstition and, 
 as it were, all the lies of Christendom in one lie, is in many 
 parts of the country believed at this day to be " as true as the 
 Gospel." 
 
 The first metrical romance, properly and strictly so-called, that is 
 known to have existed, and may possibly be still extant in the dark 
 recess of some national or monkish library, is the famous Chanson 
 de Roland, which was sung by a minstrel, or juggler, named 
 Taillefer, riding on horseback, at the head of the Norman army, 
 when marching under Duke William to the Battle of Hastings. 
 The earliest mention of this celebrated song appears to be made 
 by William Somerset, a monk of Malmesbury, who finished his 
 history and, as it is presumed, his life, in the year 1142. " Tunc," 
 says he, in his description of the above engagement, "CANTILENA 
 ROLLANDI inchoata, ut Martium viri exeni;pluni pugnaiuros 
 accenderet," * etc. Maistre "Wase, or Gace, who completed his 
 metrical romance of Le Brut, a free but excellent translation of 
 Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, in the year 1155, is the 
 only writer to whom we are indebted for a knowledge of the subject 
 of this ancient poem. His words are these : 
 
 " Taillefer, qi mlt Men chantout, 
 Sor un cheval qi tost alout, 
 Devant le due alout chantant, 
 De Karlemaigne, et de Rollant, 
 
 * De Gestis Regum, Book III. , p. loi. All our old historians, as Mattliew Pai-is 
 and Matthew of Westminster, as well as the Chronicle of Albericus, nearly follow 
 the words of this oldest author. Henry of Huntingdon, Ralph de Diceto, Robert 
 of Gloucester, and Abbot Bromton, though they notice the pranlis of this juggler, 
 say nothing of his song. Fabyan, on whatever authority, mentions a still earlier 
 instance of the mihtary use of this favourite performance. In describing the battle 
 of Fountanet, between Charles the Bald and his two brothers, in 94r, he says : 
 " When the shote was spente, and the speres to shateryd, then both hostes ranne 
 togyther WYTH ROLANDS SONGE, so that, in short whyle, the grene felde was 
 dyed into a perfyte redde " {Chronicle, 1533, fo. 93). 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 Ed, Oliver, et des vassals, 
 Qi morurent en Rencevals." * 
 
 Geoffrey Gaimar, an earlier poet than Wace, though he only 
 appears as his continuator, speaks likewise of this gallant minstrel ; 
 and gives a curious relation of the behaviour of his horse, the tricks 
 he played with his spear and sword, and his exploits in the action, 
 which are likewise mentioned by some of our old historians.t 
 
 Doctor Burney, in his History of Music (ii. 276), has inserted 
 a pretendedly genuine copy of the Chanson de Roland, by the 
 Marquis de Paulmy, with a spirited translation ; but the Marquis, 
 in this jeu d'esjirii, apparently mistook the nature of 'the ancient 
 Chanson, confounding it with that of a more recent period. The 
 Chevalier de Tressan, in his Corjis d'extraits de Romans (i. 356), 
 gives a stanza, in modern French, of a different song said to be 
 chanted by the peasants of the Pyrenees ; but most probably of his 
 own invention. The real Chaiison de Roland was, unquestionably, 
 a metrical romance of great length upon the fatal battle of Ron- 
 cevaux, of which Taillefer only chanted a part. 
 
 Le Grand d'Aussy pretends that the Chanson de Roland sub- 
 sisted down to the third race, as, he says, it appears by that reply 
 so bold, known to everybody, of a soldier to King John, who re- 
 proached him with singing it at a time when there were no longer 
 any Rolands. This assertion, however, so far as respects the 
 above, or any other song, is an absolute falsehood. The story 
 alluded to, which has no better authority than that of Hector Bois, 
 a fabulous writer of the sixteenth century, is, literally, as follows : 
 "When King John was come to Paris, calling the parliament to- 
 gether, he complained, with a pitiful tone, of his misfortunes and the 
 calamities of the realm, and amongst the rest, lamented that he 
 could now find no Rolands or Gawins ; to which one of the peers, 
 whose valour had been famous in his youth, and, therefore, an enemy 
 to the king's sloth, answered there would be no want of Rolands 
 if there were Charleses." f The anecdote, no doubt, supposing it 
 true, has some merit ; but no sort of connection with, or allusion to, 
 the Chanson de Roland, unless as confounded among the number 
 of metrical romances on the same subject. This, however, or some 
 other song or romance of Roland, appears to have been popular 
 
 * Histoire ou Roman des dues de Normandie (R. MSS. 4 c. XI.) ; and by no 
 means Le Roman de Ron, as hath been completely proved by abid de la Rue. 
 ' ' Telfair, who well could sing a strain, 
 
 Upon a horse that went amain, 
 
 Before the duke rode singing loud. 
 
 Of Charlemagne and Roland good, 
 
 Of Oliver, and those vassals, 
 
 Who lost their lives at Roncevals," 
 t Le Brut, R. MSS. 13, A. XXI. 
 X Scotorum Historia, B. 15, fo. 339. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 in Italy in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, as we learn from a 
 story of Poggius (speaking of one who deplored to the bystanders 
 the fall and subversion of the Roman empire) : hie ^ar similis est, 
 inquit (Antonius Luscus) viro Medio lanensi, qui die festo cum 
 audisset unum ex grege cantorum, qui gesta heroum ad plebem 
 decantant, recitantem Mortem Rolandi, qui se;ptingentts jam 
 ferme annis in j)r(Blio occubuit ccepit acriter flere, etc. The 
 wit, however, of Signer Lusco seems to have, for this once at least, 
 been rather misplaced.* 
 
 Despairing of the existence of the Chanson de Roland among 
 the number of ancient French poems which remain upon the subject 
 of Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver, and Roncesvalles,t the most 
 ancient romance in that language, still preserved, has been thought 
 to be one upon the achievements of Charlemagne respecting the 
 destruction of the monastery of Carcassonne and Narbonne, and the 
 construction of that of De la Grace. This history is said to have 
 been written, at the command of the above monarch, by a certain 
 writer named Fhilojnena, and to have been afterward, at the in- 
 stance of St. Bernard, abbot, and the convent of the said monastery, 
 turned into Latin by one Paduan, or Vital, between the years 1015 
 and 1019 ; but as it mentions the twelve peers of France, Le Comte 
 de Flandres, a title which did not exist till fifty years after the 
 death of Charlemagne, and the city of Montauban, which was not 
 built till 1 144, it cannot possibly be of such high antiquity. It 
 is extant, though apparently in prose, in the National Library 
 (Num. 27). J 
 
 Another, nearly of the same age, is the Roman de Guillaume 
 d' Orange, surnom.me au Court nes (or short nose), which contains 
 the history of St. Guillaum-e de Guillone, and is conjectured to be 
 of the tenth century, but is more probably of the following. Many 
 copies of it are extant in diiferent libraries ; and a full account of 
 it may be seen in Catel's Memoires de Languedoc.% The author 
 calls himself Guillaum.es de Ba^atime.\\ It appears, from a pas- 
 sage of Order icus Vitalis, who flourished in 1140, to have been 
 sung, in his time, by the minstrels, though not so worthy of attention 
 as a more authentic narrative. His words are : " Canitur Vulgo 
 d joculatoribus, de illo (Sci. S. Gulielmo) cantilena, sed jure ;prce- 
 
 * pacecie, Basil, 1488, 4to. See more concerning Roland and Oliver being 
 sung upon the stage in tlie Antiquiiales Italics of Muratori, ii. 844. 
 
 t This romance, the authors of the Histoire Litteraire seem positive, was no 
 other than that which bears the name of Roland et Olivier, and is marked among 
 the MSS. of Charles V., VI., and VII. ; and refer to the Histoire de L'aca, des 
 inscrip., t. I., part I., p. 317. 
 
 X See Montfaucon Bib. Lit, II. 1283 ; Histoire Lit. de la France, IV. 211, 2121 
 VI. 13, VII. Ix.xi. ; and Catel, Memoires de Languedoc, 404, 409, 547, 566. 
 
 § 549. 569. etc. See also Histoire Lit. de la France, VII. Ix.xi. 
 
 II Sinner's Catalogue, tome 3, page 333. 
 
Metrical Romances. 23 
 
 ferenda est relatio anthentica, quce A religiosis doctor ihus, solerter 
 est edita, et a studiosis lectoribus reverenter lecta est in comrauni 
 frati-um audientia." * 
 
 Dom Calmet maintains that the Roman de Garin le Loheran, 
 the author whereof lived in 1050, is the most ancient romance which 
 the French have;t and to prove the age of Ogier le Danois (not 
 that of Adenez), the authors of the Histoire Litteraire quote the 
 authority of Metellus, a monk of TegornsSe, in Bavaria, who wrote 
 about 1060; and having occasion to speali of the hero of that 
 romance, adds, " whom that people (the Burgundians), singing old 
 songs, call Osiger" (VII, Ixxvi.). 
 
 The next, in point of age, that is yet known, is probably a chronicle- 
 history of the Britons and English, from Jason and the achievement 
 of the golden fleece to the death of Henry I., which appears to 
 have been composed at the instance of Dame Constance FitzGilbert 
 before the year 1147 ; in which year died Robert, Earl of Gloucester, 
 natural son of King Henry I., who had sent the book he had 
 caused to be translated, according to those of the Welsh kings, 
 to Walter Espec, who died in or before 1140, Jof whom Lady 
 Constance borrowed it (this seems, from the mention of Walter the 
 Archdeacon, to be Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, which 
 is addressed to Earl Robert), a fragment of which is annexed, by 
 way of continuation, to the Brut of Maistre Wace, in the king's 
 MSS., 13 A XXI., no other copy being known to exist. 
 
 Alexandre Bernay, surnamed Paris, and Lambert li Cors, are the 
 joint authors of a romance oi Alexander in French verse, beginning 
 "Qui vers de riche histoir veut scavoir," in 105 1, or, according to 
 others, in 1 193, which may only be the date of the MS. 
 
 The next is Maistre Wace, Gace, or Gasse, a native of the isle of 
 Jersey, and canon of CaSn in Normandy, an excellent poet, who 
 composed the romance of Le Brut, as he tells us, in 1155, the 
 Roman de Rou, the romance of William Longsword, the romance 
 of Duke Richard I. his son, the history of the Dukes of Normandy, 
 a compendium or abridgment of the same history, the life of St. 
 Nicholas, and the Rom-an du Chevalier au Lion in 1155, all per- 
 formances of considerable merit. § Benoit or Benedict de Saint- 
 
 * L. 6. 
 
 t Histoire Lit. , vi. 13. 
 
 J This date is ascertained by the death , in that year, of Archbishop Thurstan, a. 
 witness to his foundation-charter of Rievaux Abbey. 
 
 § The Christian name of Maistre Wace is said by Huet (who cites no authority), 
 to have been Mohert [Origines de Caen, Rouen, 1702, p. 607). In La Vie de S. 
 Nicholas, cited by Hickes, Gr. A.S.P., pp. 146, 147, he is called " mestre Guace" 
 {Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, iv., 59) ; and in the MS. of Le Chevalier au Lion his name is 
 written Gasse. Tyrwhitt suspects that Le Martyre de St. George en vers Francois 
 far Robert Guaco, mentioned by M. Lebeuf as extant in the Bibl. Colbert, Cod. 
 374S (Mem. de I'acad., D.I., & B.L.V., xvii., 6., 731), is by this Wace or Gace, 
 
24 Ancient English 
 
 More, contemporary with Wace, wrote Lestoire des Due de Nor' 
 mendie, and the Roman de Troie, both which are among the 
 Harleian MSS. 
 
 Le Roman de Florimon is of the year 1180, the author being 
 unknown. 
 
 Christian or Chrestien de Troyes wrote in 1191 Les Romans de 
 Chevalier a l' E-pee {ou L' Histoire de Lancelot du Lac), du Chevalier 
 a la Charrette ou De la Carette (perhaps the same with the preced- 
 ing), du Chevalier d Lion, du Prince Alexandre, etc., de Graal, de 
 Perseval, d'Erec, with others which are now lost.* 
 
 There are numerous MS. romances in verse, in diiferent libraries, 
 some of which, no doubt, are as ancient as any here noticed. The 
 rest are too numerous to specify, as the two subsequent centuries 
 were still more prolific. 
 
 The authors of the earliest French romans in rh3'me generally 
 declare their names in the course of their own works, " Meistre 
 Wace kifist cest livere," and are occasionally noticed by a brother 
 poet, as, for instance, Geoffrey Gaimar, the author of a British 
 chronicle, already mentioned, who not only names himself, but David, 
 his contemporary, of whom nothing more is known ; Lambert li Cors, 
 one of the authors of the Rom,an d' Alexandre, Maistre Wace, the 
 author of Le Brut, Le Roman deRou, L' Histoire de Normandie, Le 
 Chevalier au Lion, Le Gestede Alisandre, and several other poems, 
 name themselves, and the last, in some, repeatedly, all of whom, or 
 of which, are of the twelfth century. 
 
 "Almost every one of the (numberless) tales C2XS&&. fabliaux," 
 
 whose name, by the way, is frequently corrupted into Eustace, Wistace, or 
 Huistace, Vacces, and Vaches, particularly by Warton, who believes them to be 
 two distinct persons, and confounds the Brut with the Roman de Rou (i., 62). 
 Wace or Gace, however, was certainly a baptismal name, there being two other 
 French poets who bore it, Gasse BruUs and Gasse de Vigne. 
 
 The title of master, or maistre, also is constantly prefixed to the Christian and 
 never to the surname, instances of the latter, of the twelfth century, being, at the 
 same time, exceedingly rare. Had the name of Wace been Robert, he would have 
 called himself Maistre Robert and not Maistre Wace. 
 
 The passage in 'Leheuf [Rec/ierches sur les plus anciennes Traductions en Langue 
 Fran(oise) is as follows : " Un manuscrit de la biblioihiqtie Colbert (Cod. 3745) 
 nousfournit le martyre de St. George en vers Francois far Robert Guaco, une vie 
 de St. Thomas de Canterberi en vers Francois, Alexandrins,parivQX& Benet, ^ une 
 histoire du martyre de Hugues de Lincoln, enfant tui par un Juif, tan 1206." 
 Guaco, however, is not Guace. 
 
 * In the Rotnan de Perceval he says : — 
 
 " Cil qui fit (f Ente 6^ (/'Enide, 
 Et les com.inandements d'Ovide, 
 Et I'art d'aimer en roman mist, 
 Del roy ' Marc ' &= rf'Uselt la blonde, 
 Et de la Hupe, &" de /'Eronde, 
 Et del Rossignol la muance, 
 Un autre conte, commence,'* etc. 
 
Metrical Romances. 25 
 
 says M. Le Grand, " are known to be by some poet or other whose 
 name is mentioned." Of the authenticity of these names there can 
 be no suspicion; but those whose names appear now and then in the 
 old prose romances, printed or manuscript, are mostly, if not con- 
 stantly, men of straw, such, for instance, as Robert de Borran, the 
 pretended author or translator of Lancelot du Lac, mise en 
 Francois du Commandement d' Henri, Roi de A ngleterre * ; Lucas 
 (or Luces), chevalier sieur du chastel du Gast pres de s'alisberi. 
 Anglais, the pretended translator, " de Latin en Frangois," of 
 Le Roman de Tristan et Iseult t; Maistre Gualtier Map (ad 
 adviz au roy Henry son seigneur), of the Histoire de Roy Artus et 
 des Chevaliers de la Table Ronde {avec le Saint Graal),X and 
 Rusticien de Pise or Pisa, otherwise Rusiiciens de Puise, who 
 translated Gyron le Courtois, from the book of the lord Edward, 
 King of England, when he went beyond sea to conquer the Holy 
 Sepulchre.§ No French romance of chivalry, it is believed, or should, 
 at least, be believed without seeing it in ancient MS., is in the Latin 
 language (except those of the pseudo-Turpin and Geoffrey of Mon- 
 mouth maybe so called, or, it maybe, a translation or imitation), though 
 the pretence is common. Perceforest was first " ecrit en grec, puis 
 traduit en latin," etc., and Berynus " de langaige incongneu." 
 It was a weak and unfounded observation of Menage that whenever 
 these faggots pretend to translate from the Latin, they mean the 
 Italian. || 
 
 "The professed romances of chivalry," in the opinion of Dr. 
 Percy, " seem to have been first composed in France, where also 
 they had their name," though he elsewhere, with little consistency, 
 thinks "the stories of King Arthur and his round table" (the most 
 
 * Warton, i, , 1 14. 
 
 t Idem, i., 115. 
 
 % Idem, ii., fig. ch. 3. It is not meant to assert that there was no such person, as 
 he was, in reality, archdeacon of Oxford, and a very excellent and humorous Latin 
 poet. He was merely drawn into this scrape by the French romancers {and 
 after them, by the Welsh writers) , who confounded him with another of the same 
 name, also archdeacon of Oxford, who is the man said by Geoffrey of Monmouth 
 to have presented him with the original Welsh of the British History. Warton, 
 as is usual with him, prefers Walter de Mapes (ii., ch. 2, b) because the chronology 
 proves absurd and impossible, he not being archdeacon of Oxford before 1197, 
 about forty-four years after the death of Geoffrey ; but this, it must be confessed, is 
 a very temperate anachronism for " honest Tom." 
 
 § This and two other romans, du Bruth and de Meliadus de Leonnois, are in the 
 Duke of Valliere's catalogue, attributed to this "maistre Rusticiens de Pise " ; and 
 jn Bib. du Roi, (yjgb d 6983, are plusieurs volumes de Giron de Courtois, mis en 
 Franpois par Hue (Luc), seigneur du chateau du Gat." 
 
 II Dans la Bibl. Nation. No. 3713 (est) un MS>. de la fin du XU. siecle qui 
 renferme le roman de Turpin et celui D' Amis et Amillon en vers I^atins. The 
 former, at least, was in Latin prose, of the preceding age, and the latter of that in 
 which they were, in all probability, both versified by the same hand. 
 
26 Ancient English 
 
 fruitful and popular subjects of the French and Norman poets) 
 "may be reasonably supposed of the growth of this island, both 
 the French and the Armoricans," he adds, "probably having them 
 from Britain." The former indisputably made great use of Geoffrey 
 of Monmouth's fabulous history, but what they had before it does 
 not appear; neither, in fact, does this impostor ever mention the 
 round table, though Master Wase does, not many years after ; and 
 with respect to the Armoricans, who are not known on any ancient 
 or respectable authority to have ever possessed a single story on 
 this subject, however confidently the fact may be asserted, or 
 plausibly presumed, it is ridiculous to account for their mode of 
 getting what it cannot be proved they ever had. 
 
 Before the year 1122,* and even, according to the French anti- 
 quaries, in the eleventh century, had appeared a book entitled, in 
 the printed copies, jfoannis Tur^iniHistoria de Vita CaroliMagni 
 et Rolandi. This Turpin is pretended to be the Archbishop of 
 Rheims, whose true name, however, was Tilpin,t and who died 
 before Charlemagne, though Robert Gaguin, in his licentious 
 translation of this work, 1527, makes him, like some one else, 
 relate his own death. Another pretended version of this pseudo- 
 Turpin, which is said to have been made by one Mickius (or 
 Michel) le Harnes, who lived in the time of Philip the August, or 
 1 206, J has little or nothing in common with its false original, being, 
 in fact, the romance of Regnaut, or Reynald, and not that of 
 Roland, who is never once mentioned in the head chapters, and 
 very rarely in the book. Mr. Ellis, who took it, without inspection, 
 to be a fair translation of the false Turpin, in 1207, says: "The 
 real author was perhaps a Spaniard" ; but this is without authority; 
 and, in fact, the Spaniards have no romance of any such antiquity.§ 
 Mr. Warton calls this fabulous history "the groundwork of all the 
 chimerical legends which have been related concerning the con- 
 quests of Charlemagne and his twelve peers" ; but this, at least, 
 requires it to have been composed before the year 1066, when the 
 adventures or exploits of Charlemagne, Roland, and Oliver, were 
 chanted at the battle of Hastings. As a strong internal proof, 
 however, that this romance was written long after the time of 
 Charlemagne, he says that the historian, speaking of the numerous 
 chiefs and kings who came with their armies to assist his hero, 
 among the rest mentions Earl Oell, and adds, "Of this man there 
 
 * Warton, i., ch. 2, who cites Magn. Chron. Belgic, p. 153, sub anno, and refers 
 to Long's Bibl. Hist. Gal., No. 6671, and Lambac, ii. 333. 
 
 t See Flodoardus' Historia Ecclesia Remensis, 1. a, ch. 17. 
 
 J See Memoires de V Academic des inscript., iv., 208. 
 
 ^ The original Latin was never printed separately, and first of all inserted in a 
 collection, entitled, Germanicarum rernm quatuor Chroiiographi, etc., Franco- 
 furti, 1566, fo. 
 
Metrical Eomances. 2.7 
 
 is a song commonly sung among, the minstrels even io this day." * 
 In another place he says that "Turpin's histor}' was artfully forged 
 under the name of that archbishop about the year mo, with a 
 design of giving countenance to the Crusades from the example 
 of so high an authority as that of Charlemagne," whose pretended 
 visit to the Holy Sepulchre is described in the twentieth chapter, f 
 which seems highly probable. 
 
 In the year 1138, Geoffrey of Monmouth, afterwards bishop of 
 St. Asaph, set forth a certain work, which, in his epistle dedicatory 
 to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, he says he had translated from a 
 very ancient book in the British tongue, which had been brought 
 to him by Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, a man of great eloquence, 
 and learned in foreign histories, containing, in a regular story and 
 elegant style, the actions of them all, from Brutus, the first king of 
 the Britons, down to Cadwallader, the son of Cadwallo. Whether 
 Geoffrey's Latin book, which has certainly made its way in the 
 world, and infected or influenced, more or less, national history in 
 almost every part of the globe, was an actual translation, or entirely 
 or partly of his own manufacture, is not a question here intended to 
 be discussed ; but all allow that the British original has never been 
 found, unless in the shape of a translation from the Latin. Mr. 
 Warton, indeed, modestly enough, inclines to think "that the work 
 consists of fables thrown out by different rhapsodists at different 
 times," which afterward "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, he supposes "it to have fallen into 
 the hands of Geoffrey of Monmouth." f However this may be, as 
 there is little or no evidence, though much improbability, upon the 
 subject, the readers of the learned historian may be permitted, for 
 the present, to retain his opinion ; but " amid the gloom of super- 
 stition, in an age of the grossest ignorance and credulity," he says, 
 "a taste for the wonders of Oriental fiction was introduced by the 
 Arabians into Europe." These fictions coinciding with the reigning 
 manners, and perpetually kept up and improved in the tales of 
 troubadours and minstrels, seem to have centred about the eleventh 
 century in the ideal histories of Turpin and Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 where they formed the groundwork of that species of fabulous narra- 
 tive called romance. § Whatever became of the inducing causes, the 
 conclusion is, unquestionably, very plausible, if not perfectly true. 
 
 * I., ch. ii. 
 
 t I., 124. In the national library, No. 3718 is a MS. of the end of the twelfth 
 century, which contains the romance of Turpin, and that of Amis and Amillion in 
 Latin verses. 
 
 X I., b. 
 
23 Ancient English 
 
 for whether there were anything upon the subject of Charlemagne 
 and Arthur before the appearance of these two books, it is very 
 certain there was a prodigious number after it. 
 
 The fabliaux of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (a name for 
 which the English language affords no appropriate term, nor the 
 French any synonym), extant in MS. in several libraries, are almost 
 innumerable. Three volumes have been published by M. Brabazan, 
 under the title of Fabliaux et Conies des Poetes Francois des XII., 
 XIII., XIV., and XV. siecles (Paris, 1756, 1776, 3 vols. i2mo), 
 which afford a sufficient specimen of this species of French poetry ; 
 while several, as well of these as others, have been epitomised and 
 transposed by Le Grand d'Aussy, who has accompanied them with 
 ingenious and interesting dissertations and notes, at first in two 
 volumes 8vo, and secondly in five i2mo. 
 
 It has been imagined, as Warton thinks, that the first romances 
 were composed in metre, and sung to the harp by the poets of 
 Provence at festival solemnities ' ; but, according to more authentic 
 writers, these poets borrowed their art from the French or Normans. 
 He likewise asserts that the troubadours were the first writers of 
 metrical romances.! The Provencal poetry, in fact, was for the 
 most part of a different description, and abounded chiefly in allegory 
 and satire. There is but one single romance existing that can he 
 imputed to a troubadour, that of Gerard de RoussillonX; nor is it 
 certain that if they had composed ever so many, they would have 
 rivalled the French in point of either merit or precedency. 
 
 Warton, indeed, misled, apparently, by that ignis fatuus War- 
 burton, Bishop of Gloucester, and even wishing, it would seem, to 
 emulate and outdo that confident and mendacious prelate,§ has been 
 induced to assert that "before these expeditions into the East 
 became fashionable, the principal and leading subjects of the old 
 fables were the achievements of King Arthur, with his knights of 
 the round table, and of Charlemagne with his twelve peers. But, in 
 
 * I., 112. He elsewhere affirms that "the troubadours of Provence, an idle 
 and unsettled race of men, took up arms and followed their barons in prodigious 
 multitudes to the conquest of Jerusalem " (no). An absurd falsehood. 
 
 t I-, 147- 
 
 I The Provenfal poets had got an extravagantly high character, which this 
 ingenious writer has entirely deprived them of. M. de Sainte-Palaye, who had 
 made large and interesting collections upon the history and poetry of the trouba- 
 dours, which he perfectly understood, suffered, unfortunately, his papers to fall 
 into the hands of one Milot, a perfect blockhead, who neither knew the Provencal 
 nor anything else. 
 
 § See his pretended hypothesis of the origin of romance, first printed in the 
 supplement to Jarvis's Don Quixote, and afterward in his own and several subse- 
 quent editions of Shakespeare, a complete specimen of ignorance, impudence, and 
 falsehood, which has been so ably and decisively confuted and exposed by the 
 learned and judicious Tyrwhitt, and deserves only to be treated with indignation 
 and contempt. 
 
Metrical Romances. 29 
 
 the romances written after the Holy War, a new set of champions, 
 of conquests, and of countries, were introduced. Trebizonde took 
 the place of Rouncevalles, and Godfrey of BuUoigne, Solyman, Nou- 
 raddin, the caliphs, and the cities of .iDgypt and Syria, became 
 the favourite topics." • 
 
 In all this rhapsody there is scarcely a single word of truth. It 
 is sufficiently notorious that before the first Crusade, or for more 
 than half a century after it, there was not one single romance on 
 the achievements of Arthur or his knights. Neither is it more true 
 that any such change took place with regard to the subjects of 
 romance, as he here pretends. That there was a romance on Godfrey 
 of Bologne is certain ; but that it ever obtained the popularity of 
 those of Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver, and Roncevalles, which are 
 almost innumerable, or that Solyman, Nouraddin, the caliphs, and 
 the cities of Egypt and Syria, were ever "the favourite topics," is 
 nothing but random assertion, falsehood, and imposition, there not 
 being a single romance on an}' one of these subjects.* 
 
 A curious passage in the ancient chronicle of Bertrand Guesclin, 
 as cited by Du Cange, under the word Ministrelli, preserves the 
 names of several ancient French romans, some of which are not 
 otherwise known to have existed, and expressly says they were 
 composed by the minstrels : 
 
 " Qui veut avoir renom, des bans 6° de vaillans, 
 11 doit aler souvent a la pluie et au champs, 
 Et estre en la bataille, ainsy quefu Rollans, 
 Les quatre fils Haimon, et Charlon li plus grans, 
 Li dus Lions de Bourges, et Gulon de Connaus, 
 Perceval li Galois, Lancelot, et Tristans, 
 Alixandres, Artus, Godfroi li sachans, 
 De quoy cils menestriersyo^^ les nobles romans." 
 
 None of these rhyming romances have been ever printed, unless a 
 comparatively modem one, entitled Le Roman de la Rose, which is 
 well known, and as is somewhere said, Tristan &' la Belle Yseult, 
 Richard sans peur, at Paris, without date, and at Lyons, in 1597, 
 Due Guillaume, Roy d' Angleterre, Guisgardus &■ Sigismund, 
 1493, etc., Le Roman de Troye, by 'jean de Meun, one of the 
 authors of the Roman de la Rose; but if really so, the copies (of all 
 but the last) are as scarce as manuscripts. 
 
 In the course, it is thought, of the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
 turies, and possibly even in the latter part of the thirteenth, many 
 of the old metrical French romances were turned into prose, and 
 afterward printed. A numerous and invaluable collection of the 
 former were in the Chateau d'Anet, the residence of Diane de 
 
 * History of English Poeliy, i., no. 
 
30 Ancient English 
 
 Poitiers, the favourite mistress of Henry III., in 1724, but now 
 everywhere dispersed. 
 
 Nicholas de Herberay, sieur des Essars, who published, in 1574, a 
 French version of the first eight books of the celebrated Spanish 
 romance of Amadis de Gaule* asserts that this far-famed and 
 exquisite story made its first appearance in France, affirming that 
 he had, moreover, found some remnant of an old manuscript in the 
 Picard language from which he thought that the Spaniards had 
 made their translation, and which is possibly still extant. t This, 
 it is presumed, was in verse, in the manner of all or most other 
 ancient romances, which is the most probable, as the printed history 
 of Theseus de Cologne, by Anthony Bonnemere, at Paris, in or about 
 I S34, professes to be translated "<fe vielle rime VicaxAe." There 
 was likewise, in the collection of M. Lancelot, a MS. about the 
 year 1330, entitled Autre Roman du Renard, in verse, en langue 
 Picarde. 
 
 The progress of the Italian and Spanish was much like that of 
 the French, but possibly less corrupted, as it is said that there are 
 specimens of the Spanish and Italian poets which are at once Latin 
 and the vernacular idiom. Romance did not make its appearance 
 in Italy before the time of Dante or Boccace, nor, perhaps, in a 
 stricter sense, previous to the Morgante Maggiore of Pulci, from 
 which time, down to the seventeenth century, the number of their 
 rom.anzi, or rim.i cavalareschi, all in the same kind of metre, is 
 prodigious, some of which are sufficiently known to be of great and 
 sterling merit. Voltaire, who was in one part of his life so disgusted 
 with a translation of Ariosto, in French prose, after having become 
 acquainted with the original, preferred it to the poetry of Homer 
 and Virgil. J 
 
 It arrived still later in Spain, which can boast of nothing in the 
 shape of a metrical romance but an epic poem or two of the thir- 
 teenth century, their historias de cavallerias, or what we call 
 romances of chivalry, being, though sufficiently numerous and 
 occasionally of great merit, uniformly in prose. That which we 
 term a ballad, or lyrical narrative, is called in Spain uno romance. 
 Among the prodigious quantity of these compositions there are few 
 or none older than the close, at most, of the fifteenth century. 
 Some, it is true, are upon Moorish subjects ; but it is false that 
 
 * Warton calls this " a romance written in Spain, by Vasco de Lobeyra, before 
 the year 1300," but the author or translator, in fact, is totally unknown ; neither 
 was Vasco de Lobeyra a Spaniard, but a Portuguese ; nor could it be written 
 before 1450, or, as Mr. Tyrwhitt thinks, before the invention of "the art of 
 printing." 
 
 t See Tressan, Corps d'Extraits de Romans, iii., 4 ; also Fontenelle, Theatre, 
 tome 3. 
 
 J See, as to the progress of the Italian dialect, Miiraloi-ts Antiquitates, a book 
 of prodigious learning and authenticity. 
 
Metrical Romances. 31 
 
 any one is a translation from Arabian poetrj', not even among the 
 curious and beautiful specimens in the Guerras Civiles de Grenada., 
 published originally under such a pretence. 
 
 II. Saxon and English Language. 
 
 With respect to the original letters or characters of the Saxons, we 
 are able to obtain no satisfactory information. It is highly impro- 
 bable that they had a written language when, in a state of paganism, 
 they arrived, as the allies of the Britons, in 449. 
 
 The Britons, who had already professed Christianity, though not 
 popery, for two or three centuries, appear to have had books and 
 writings, and, consequently, letters and characters, long before the 
 time of Gildas, who wrote about 560, and expressly mentions that all 
 such had been destroyed in hostile convulsions, or carried abroad. 
 The Saxons were much fonder of exterminating them, than of learning 
 their language. 
 
 St. AugTistine arrived in 597, and made considerable progress in the 
 conversion of the Saxons from pagan to popish superstition ; but 
 neither Bede, nor any other ancient writer, relates that he taught 
 them their letters : in process of time, however, they certainly had the 
 art of writing, both in Latin and Saxon, and, in the following age, 
 abounded with men of learning, if not of sense, of whom Bede, who 
 died in 731, is a sufficient instance. According to Nennius, St. 
 Patrick, who came to Ireland in 434, wrote three hundred and sixty- 
 five alphabets (one for every day in the year) and upward (in order, 
 it is presumed, to teach the Irish to read).* 
 
 Neither the Britons, nor the Irish, nor the Saxons, had a K ox 3. 
 Q, an -X" or a Z, in their language. t 
 
 The Britons, according to Lhuyd, "had letters before the time of 
 Juvenal and Tacitus," for, says he, "I have lately seen a coin of 
 Berach (or Bericus), with his name upon it, in the time of the 
 Emperor Claudius ; and there are others also that bear the name of 
 Caswallon, prince of the Britains (Britons) who fought against Julius 
 Caesar, beside several others, the times of which cannot be deter- 
 mined."! 
 
 Caesar, however, has given his positive testimony that the Britons 
 had no coined money, making use of brass rings, etc.,§ and Gildas 
 asserts that whatever they had of brass, silver, or gold, was marked 
 with the image of Caesar. || 
 
 Many Irish clerks came over to England, and, being esteemed for 
 
 * Ch. 58. 
 
 t See Lhuyd, apud Lewis, 61. 
 
 X See Lhuyd, apud Lewis, 62. 
 
 § Gallic I Var, B. 5. 
 
 II Ch. 5. 
 
32 Ancient English 
 
 their learning (which consisted, it is presumed, chiefly in a knowledge 
 of the Scriptures, the expositors thereof, and the ancient fathers), 
 were preferred to bishoprics and abbeys. King Oswald, in 635, as 
 we learn from Bede, who had, in banishment, received the sacrament 
 of baptism amongthe Scots {i.e., Irish), senttothe elders of that nation, 
 desiring they would send him a bishop, which they did. This was 
 Aidan, a man of singular meekness, piety, and moderation, to whom 
 the king appointed his episcopal see in the isle of Lindisfarn ; and, 
 being unskilful in the English tongue, the king, when he preached 
 to the people, used to interpret for him. From that time, he says, 
 many of the Scots began daily to come to Britain, and, with great 
 devotion, to teach the word of faith to those provinces over which 
 Oswald reigned. Churches were erected in several places ; posses- 
 sions were given, of the king's bounty, to build monasteries; the 
 English, great and small, were by their Scottish masters instructed 
 in the rules and observance of regular discipline, for most of them 
 that came to preach were monks.* Maildulfus, the founder of 
 Malmesbury, in 675, was likewise a Scot of Ireland. It is therefore 
 sufficiently probable that these Irish priests taught the Saxons their 
 letters, between which and the Saxon there is a considerable affinity, 
 whereas, admitting the Britons capable of doing this themselves, it 
 cannot be proved that their characters at all resembled the Saxon, as 
 if they be able to produce a manuscript or inscription of the sixth 
 century, as they pretend they are, it will, indubitably, turn out to be 
 in the Roman letters of that time. 
 
 When Coinvalch (or Cenwalch), king of the West Saxons, was, in 
 650, reinstated into the kingdom, there came into his province, from 
 Ireland, a certain pontiff, by name Agilbert, by nation, verily, a Gaul 
 (or Frank), but then having remained no small time in Ireland, for 
 the sake of learning the Scriptures, joined himself to the king, assum- 
 ing the ministry of preaching, whose erudition and industry the 
 king seeing, asked him (an episcopal see being there accepted) to 
 tarry a pontiff to his nation, who assenting to his prayers, presided 
 over the same nation, by sacerdotal right, for many years. 
 
 At length the king, who knew only the language of the Saxon, 
 weary of his BARBAROUS SPEECH, t subintroduced into the province 
 another bishop of his own tongue, by name Viri, and himself ordained 
 in Gaul, and dividing the province into two parishes, offered to the 
 other an episcopal seat in the city Venta, which from the nation of the 
 Saxons is called Vintancizster (now Winchester), whence Agilbert 
 being grievously offended that the king should act in this matter 
 without consulting him, returned to Gaul, and (the bishopric of the 
 city of Paris being accepted) there died an old man, and full of days. \ 
 
 •* B. 3, ch. 3. 
 
 \ In the original, " pertcssus barharre loguelcs." Thiis barbarous jargon would 
 seem to have been Latin, which the Saxon monarchs had not yet acquired. 
 X Bede, Hi\fo)-ia F.ccl., 1. 3, ch. 7. 
 
Metrical Romance's. 33 
 
 The Saxons arrived in 449, as allies of the Britons, whom, having 
 first defeated their enemies, they drove, after many a fierce engage- 
 ment, into the mountainous parts of the west of England, where 
 they have been suffered to remain. Though these treacherous 
 strangers are not known to have brought over with them books 
 or letters, or, in short, any kind of literary stock, while they continued 
 pagans they were unquestionably a brave and warlike nation ; but 
 upon their conversion to Christianity, their kings became monks, the 
 people cowards and slaves, unable to defend themselves, and a prey 
 to every invader. The same effects had not long before been 
 already produced upon the Romans, as they have in modern times 
 upon the Mohawks, who, in consequence of a certain change, have 
 lost all that was valuable in their national character, and are become 
 the most despicable tribe that is left unexterminated. It will be in 
 vain to expect any proofs of genius from such a savage and 
 degraded people. If, as Warton pretends, "the tales of the Scan- 
 dinavian scalds" flourished among the Saxons, who succeeded to the 
 Britons, and became possessed of England in the sixth century, it may 
 be justly presumed* they had been soon lost, as neither vestige nor 
 notice is preserved of them in any ancient writer. They had a 
 sort of poetry, indeed, a kind of bombaste or insane prose, from 
 which it is very difficult to be distinguished. Alfred, it must be 
 confessed, a great prince but a wretched bigot, upon the testimony 
 of his chaplain or confessor, who wrote his life, though he allows 
 him to have remained illiterate, through the unworthy neglect (for 
 shame !) of his parents and nurses, until twelve years of age or up- 
 wards, says that the Saxon poems, being by day and night an attentive 
 auditor, very often hearing from the relation of others, being docile, 
 he retained by heart, t He had even formed a manual or common- 
 place book, called in Saxon his honobac, in which were several 
 pieces of poetry by St. Aldhelm, who died in 709, and successfully 
 cultivated that study, and particularly a song he had made, which in 
 the time of Asser were still sung by the vulgar.| He translated the 
 ecclesiastical history of Bede, Orosiuse's Ormesta Mundt, Boetius' 
 De Consolatione Philoso^hicB, Pope Gregory's Pastorale, and the 
 Psalms of Da-j id, iroxa Latin into his vernacular tongue. It has 
 been pretended also that he paid the same attention to .ffisop's 
 fables, but this requires authority. Venerable Bede, who died in 
 731, had been a prodigy of learning, but only displayed his talents 
 in Latin ; at the commencement of Alfred's reign in 864, according 
 to his own declaration, "there were very few on this side the 
 Humber that could understand their daily prayers in English or 
 translate any letter from the Latin. I think," he adds, "there 
 
 * I. , e, 2, 6. t Asser, 16. . 
 
 % W. Malmes, 342. Asser says it was a collection of flours, and psaims, and 
 prayers, whicli lie carried in his bosom day and night. He says nothing of 
 Aldhelm. 
 
 3 
 
34 Ancient English 
 
 were not many beyond theHumber; there were so few that I, indeed, 
 cannot recollect one single instance on the south of the Thames 
 when I assumed the kingdom."* " Before everything," he says, 
 " had been ravaged and burned by the Danes, the churches, through 
 all the English nation, stood full of vessels and books and priests. 
 Of the use of their books, however, they knew very little, as they 
 were not written in the language which they spoke. So that though 
 they might see their treasures, they were unable to explore them." f 
 The Saxon language, after having been corrupted by the Danes, 
 who spoke a tongue of distant affinity, began to be infected by 
 the Norman-French before the conquest of England. We are 
 told by Ingulf that " Edward the Confessor, born in England, 
 but brought up and tarrying a very long time in Normandy, 
 had almost become a Frenchman, bringing over and attracting 
 a great many from Normandy, whom, being promoted to various 
 dignities, he raised very high. J . . . The whole land, there- 
 fore, being introduced under the king and the Normans, began 
 to dismiss the English customs, and in many things to imitate 
 the manners of the French, the Gallic idiom, that is, all the great 
 men in their courts to speak, their charters and deeds to make, and 
 their own custom in these and many other things to be ashamed of." 
 All the charters granted to Croyland by the English kings, accord- 
 ing to this learned abbot, were written in the Saxon hand " untill 
 these our times," he says, "which partly were written two ways, 
 as well in the French hand as in the Saxon. For the Saxon, by all 
 the Saxons and Mercians, until the times of King Alfred, who by the 
 French doctors was excellently instructed, used in all chirographs 
 from the time of the said lord the king, had become vile by disuse ; 
 and the French hand, because more legible, and very delectable to 
 the sight, excelled more frequently from day to day, pleased among 
 all the English. "§ He says further " that a few years before the fire 
 of 1091 he took out of the chartary several chirographs, written in a 
 Saxon hand, of which they had duplicates and triplicates, and 
 delivered them to the , chantor dom Fulmar, to be preserved in the 
 cloister, for teaching the younger monks to learn the Saxon hand, 
 forasmuch as such letter, for a long time, because of the Normans, 
 now neglected, had become vile, and was now known but to a few 
 elders, that the younger, instructed to read this letter, might be the 
 
 * Preface to the Pastorale, by himself. 
 
 t lUd. There is but one single romance, and that in prose, extant in the Saxon 
 dialect ; it is the legend of ApoUonius of Tyre, and has been translated from the 
 Latin, in the library of Bennet College. 
 
 } Gervase of Tilbui-y says he was educated with the Duke of Neustria (Nor- 
 mandy), for that, among the most noble Enghsh, a custom prevailed to bring up 
 their sons with the French, for the use of arms and talking away the barbarism of 
 their native language {ptla Imperialia). 
 
 % Ibid., 85. 
 
Metrical Romances. 35 
 
 more apt in their old age to allege the muniments of their monastery 
 against its adversaries."* 
 
 The Saxon natives, a spiritless and cowardly race, who had been 
 long accustomed to the conquest and ascendency of every neigh- 
 bouring nation which thought proper to invade them, as the Scots, 
 for instance, thePicts, and the Danes, the last of which had actually 
 taken possession of the crown and kingdom of England, and held it 
 for several reigns, were, after the Norman Conquest, reduced to a 
 state of baseness and servility. They had been deprived of their 
 native landlords, who were forfeited, banished, and put to death, and 
 their estates confiscated, by the rapacious Normans ; they had been 
 deprived of their laws, and a final attempt was now made to abolish 
 their language. This, however, though great pains were taken to 
 enforce it, did not entirely succeed, owing chiefly, it may be, to the 
 stupidity of the Saxon peasants.! 
 
 From the time of this conquest, the king, and the nobility, and 
 the bishops, and most of the regular clergy, and every man, in 
 short, of landed property, the whole kingdom having been parcelled 
 out in knights' fees, under the feudal law, which was now for the 
 first time introduced into the country, were Normans, and spoke the 
 French, so that, long before his death, and ever afterward, we do 
 not once meet with the name of one single Saxon nobleman ; nor is 
 there a single family now flourishing, however high in rank and 
 opulence, that can prove a descent from the Saxon times by authen- 
 tic documents ; all were ruined, exiled, decapitated, or reduced to 
 poverty, wretchedness, and distress, so that, in fact, like the Picts, 
 they seem to have been cut off, all at once, by a single blow, without 
 
 ' Ibid.,^. 
 
 t It would, no doubt, have been a glorious matter for a conquered and enslaved 
 people to boast that after they had lost the succession of their native sovereigns 
 their laws, their possessions, their estates and property, and everything, in short 
 that was really valuable, they were permitted to preserve their language, and 
 continue a meagre and barren jargon, which was incapable of discharging its 
 functions ; this, in fact, was the only measure of the Norman tyrants which was 
 adapted to the benefit of their conquered subjects, and in this alone they were 
 unsuccessful ; neither, on the contrary, did the Saxon commonality retain their 
 primitive tongue ; they got, indeed, a barbarous mixture of Saxon, Danish, Nor- 
 man, and one knows not what, which was no more Saxon than French, and is 
 now known by the name of English, a term formerly synonymous with Saxon. 
 
 Heame, indeed, contends that "the introduction of the French tongue was of 
 very great disadvantage. It brought a disuse," he says, "of the Scriptures, which 
 having been translated into Saxon, were commonly read among the vulgar till after 
 the Normans came among us , who did all they could possibly to destroy every- 
 thing that looked like Saxon ; and yet they were not able to bring their ill designs 
 to perfection " (Preface to Langtoft, p. xxix'.). The loss sustained by the vulgar of 
 their Saxon version would have been effectually remedied by the Latin Vulgate, 
 which the priests continued to explain to them in their vernacular idiom (for, in 
 fact, there was no French translation of the Bible) ; and the reading of it might 
 have contributed to the knowledge of the Latin tongue. 
 
36 Ancient English 
 
 any progeny being left to represent them. "At length," says In- 
 gulph, the Normans "so abominated the English, that whensoever 
 they excelled in merit, they were driven from their dignities, and 
 much less able foreigners, of whatsoever other nation which is under 
 heaven they were, would be taken willingly. The very idiom even 
 they so much abhorred, that the laws of the land and the statutes 
 of the English kings were treated in the French language.* And to 
 boys also, in schools, the grammatical principles of letters were 
 delivered in French, and not in English ; the English mode also 
 of writing was omitted, and the French mode adopted, in all charters 
 and books." t 
 
 Henry of Hunting-don, relating the death of William the Con- 
 queror, says that " now the Normans had accomplished the just 
 
 * The only laws promulgated by the Conqueror in Norman-French are those 
 that were found in a single MS. of Ingulph, now destroyed {a blank space being 
 left in other copies for their insertion), and have been printed by Selden in 
 Fulman's edition, and by Willdns in L.L. Saxonicce. If these laws be genuine, 
 a fact which is not intended to be disturbed, they must have been proclaimed, one 
 would think, in the Saxon language, being the old laws of the king's cousin 
 Edward, as he says, and intended for the benefit of his newly acquired Saxon 
 subjects ; and this Norman version must be a work of later times, by some monk, 
 who preferred to get them translated for him by another who understood the 
 Saxon tongue, supposing him not to have done it for himself. But it seems 
 evident that the copyist of the MS. used by Sir Henry Saville had been unable to 
 write the Saxon character, and therefore obliged to leave a blank ; and a Norman 
 monk, after Ingulph's death, would naturally prefer his native tongue. These laws, 
 no doubt, afford a very ancient specimen of the Norman-French ; but it is the 
 height of absurdity to imagine that he would have restored them to his Saxon 
 subjects in a language they did not understand, particularly as we find in 
 Wilkins {p. 230) that, on other occasions, he had no objection to make use of 
 their own idiom. The laws in Latin, which immediately follow the above, are, like 
 many others, a manifest forgery. There are, in fact, several charters of the Con- 
 queror, in the Saxon language, still extant, thongh the vulgar English, at that 
 period, seems to have been essentially different. William of Malmesbury, relating 
 the death of Aldred, Archbishop of York, who succeeded in 1060, and died in 1069, 
 says that the frankness of his mind shone very clear in one expression, which, he 
 adds, "I will give in English, because Latin words do not answer hke the English 
 to the rhyme." One Urfus, who had been appointed by the king sheriff of 
 Worcester, having, in erection of his castle, committed a nuisance to the monks, 
 and their complaint being brought before the archbishop, as patron of that see, he, 
 as soon as he saw the sheriff, attacked him with these words : 
 
 "Hatest thoui Urse? 
 Have thou God's curse ! " 
 which is, certainly, the most ancient and authentic vestige of the English tongue, 
 not being pure Saxon, that we are able to recover (De Gestis Pontific nm , 1. 3, 
 p. 271). 
 
 t Robert Holcot, as quoted by Selden, in his notes to Eadmer, says that the 
 Conqueror "deliberated how he might destroy the Saxon language, and accord 
 England and Normandy in idiom." 
 
 ' I.e., dost thou c.-ill thyself. 
 
Metrical Romances. 37 
 
 will of the Lord over the nation of the Engles ; nor was there scarce 
 any chief of the progeny of the Engles in England, but all were 
 reduced to slavery and sorrow, so that it was a disgrace to be called 
 an Englishman." * 
 
 "England," in the words of William of Malmesbury, contem- 
 porary with Henry the Archdeacon, "is made the habitation of 
 strangers, and the dominion of aliens. No Englishman," he says, 
 " at this day, is either duke,t or bishop, or abbot. The new-comers 
 everywhere eat up the riches and bowels of England." J 
 
 Robert of Gloucester, in his rude provincial rhymes, says of this 
 king William : 
 
 " He yef londes in Engelond that lyghtlyche cam therto, 
 That yut her eyrs boldest a londe mony on ; 
 And desei-yted mony kundemen, that he hulde his son ; 
 So that the meste del of hey men that in Englond beth 
 Beth ycome of the Normans, as ye nou yn feth ; 
 And men of relygion of Normandye also ; 
 So that vewe contreyes beth in Engelond, 
 That monckes nabbeth of Normandye somthyng in her honde." § 
 
 John Rous, who, though not an ancient author, may have been 
 acquainted with the work of one, remarks that " from the Conquest 
 the English were everywhere trod under foot, and for a trivial offence, 
 or none at all, most cruelly afflicted; and, in the beginning of 
 Henry I., the English were held in the greatest detestation. "|| 
 
 William, the only son of this Henry, who was drowned in the 
 Channel, had boasted that if ever he should receive dominion over 
 the Engles, he would make them draw the plough like oxen. If 
 
 After this how strange and weak a thing it was that so great a 
 man as Sir Henry Spelman should, for the sake of a pitiful, forensic 
 quibble, maintain that the name of conquestor, assumed by, or 
 bestowed upon, William, Duke of Normandy, who routed the Saxon 
 army in a pitched battle, and slew their native kings, signifies not 
 conquerour in historical language, but acquisitor, or purchaser, 
 in the feudal jargon, forgetting or contemning not only the old 
 historians, but even the old Leonine : " Gulielmus rex Anglorum 
 bello conquestor eorum." 
 
 It was still more weak and puerile in Sir William Blackstone, in 
 a more enlightened age, to adopt such a groundless idea, though 
 naturally enough to be expected from an ignorant reviewer. 
 
 ' 370- 
 
 t In the original dux, but there was no duke in this kingdom before the eleventh 
 year of King Edward III., when he created his eldest son duke of Cornwall. 
 Ancient writers use dux and coines indifferently. Geoffrey Plantagenet, duke of 
 Britany, is as frequently called earl. 
 
 X 459- h 368- II 138- 
 
 \ T. Walsinghara, 444 ; H. de Knyghton. 23, 82 ; the latter cites William of 
 Malmesbury. 
 
38 Ancient English 
 
 "At more than a century after the Conquest," it is supposed, 
 " both the Norman and EngUsh languages would be heard in the 
 houses of the great, so that probably about this aera, or soon after, 
 we are to date that remarkable intercommunity and exchange of 
 each other's compositions, 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 same identical stories being found in 
 the old metrical romances of both nations."* This, though it 
 could not possibly take place at so early a period, nor more than a 
 century after, is by no means to be wondered at, as the English 
 minstrels, being far inferior, in genius and invention, to the Norman 
 or French trouveres, were obliged to content themselves with trans- 
 lating what had already become celebrated, and they were unable 
 to emulate. It is, at the same time, a gross misrepresentation and 
 imposition, however confidently or plausibly asserted or insinuated, 
 that any one English minstrel romance was ever translated into 
 French. 
 
 That William the bastard, his son Rufus, his daughter Maud, 
 or his nephew Stephen, did, or could, speak the Anglo-Saxon, or 
 English language, we have no information. The Saxon chronicle 
 ended in the last of these reigns ; but, being imperfect towards the 
 conclusion, it is not certainly known how low it was actually brought, 
 and still less at what age it commenced. King Henry II., in his 
 progress to Wales, was addressed by a singular character "in 
 Teutonica lingua" very good English, it would seem, and it may 
 be also very good German, at least for the time ; the three first 
 words of the speech delivered (all that is given in that language) 
 being " Gode olde kinge ! " The king himself speaks French, t 
 
 In this reign, it is most probable, Layamon, the priest, made his 
 translation, in the style of Saxon poetry, without rhyme, from the 
 Brut of Maistre Wace, which affords a strange and singular 
 mixture of the Saxon and Norman idioms, both apparently much 
 corrupted. This curious work exhibits the progress of the English 
 language, properly so called, as we now have it, in its dawn or 
 infancy, if one may use such an expression. 
 
 The change of Saxon into English, however, was probably still 
 more rapid, as the Saxon chronicle terminated in the reign of King 
 Stephen, who died in 1154, and in FIFTEEN years after we have 
 English rhymes by St. Godric, a hermit at Finchal, who died in 
 1170, though it must be confessed there are specimens of a later 
 period in prose. 
 
 According to William of Malmesbury, in the time of King Henry I., 
 the whole language of the Northumbrians, and most of all in York, 
 
 * Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, xx.xii. 
 t J. Brompton, 1079. 
 
Metrical Romances. 39 
 
 creeked so rudely, that they of the south could understand nothing 
 of it, which happened on account of the vicinity of barbarous 
 nations,* and the remoteness of the kings, formerly English, then 
 Norman, "who are known," he says, "to sojourn more to the south 
 than to the north, "t 
 
 Girald Barry, too, who resided frequently at the court of King 
 Henry II., says of the vulgar English idiom of his own time : "As 
 in the southern borders of England, and especially about Devon- 
 shire, the English language seems, at this day, rather discomposed, 
 it nevertheless, scenting far more of antiquity (the northern parts by 
 the frequent irruptions of the Danes and Norwegians, being greatly 
 corrupted), observes more the propriety and ancient mode of speak- 
 ing ; of which also not argument only, but likewise certainty, you 
 may have that all the English books of Bede, Rabanus, King Alfred, 
 or others whomsoever you will find written under the propriety of 
 this idiom." f 
 
 This seems to describe the Saxon into which Alfred translated 
 Bede's Ecclesiastical History, and many other Latin books. 
 
 "This apayring of the birthe tonge," says Higden, "is by cause 
 of tweye thinges ; oon is for children in scole, ayenes the usage and 
 maner of alle other naceouns, beth compelled for to leve her owne 
 langage, and for to constrewe her lessouns and her thingis a 
 Frensche, and havith siththe that the Normans come first into 
 England. AUso gentilraennes children beth ytaught for to speke 
 Frensche, from the tyme that they beth rokked in her cradel, and 
 kunneth speke, and playe with a childes brooche. And uplondish- 
 men wole likne hemself to gentilmen, and fondeth with g^ete 
 bisynesse for to speke Frensche, for to be the more ytold of." § 
 Trevisa, the translator, in his addition to this passage, allows that 
 though "this maner was mych yused to fore the first moreyn," it 
 was "siththe som del ychaunged. So that now," he says, "the 
 yere of our lord a thousand thre hundrd four score and fyve, in all 
 the gramer scoles of Englond, children leveth French, and con- 
 strueth and lemeth an Englisch." 
 
 King Richard is never known to have uttered a single word of 
 English, unless one may rely on the evidence of Robert Mannyne 
 for the express words when of Isaac, King of Cyprus, "O dele," 
 said the king, " this is a fole Breton." The latter expression seems 
 proverbial, whether it allude to the Welsh or to the Armoricans ; 
 because Isaac was neither by birth, though he might be both by 
 folly. Many great nobles of England in this century were utterly 
 
 *258. 
 
 t The Picts and the Scots. 
 
 % Girald, Cambria discriptio, c. 6. He means pure Saxon, and not the jargon 
 of his own time. 
 § Tyrwhitt's Chaucer, iv., 22. 
 II Ibid, iv„ 23. 
 
40 Ancient English 
 
 ignorant of the English language. A remarkable instance is related 
 by Brompton, ofWilliam, Bishop of Ely, chancellor, chief justiciary, 
 and prime minister, to Richard, and certainly at one time the 
 greatest, at another the least, in the kingdom, who did not know 
 a word of it.* 
 
 "Our nation," say King John's ambassadors to King Admiral 
 of Morocco, " is learned in three idioms, that is to say, Latin, 
 French, and English." t There is no specimen of the English lan- 
 guage in this reign. It must, however, have been making its progress, 
 as in the reign of his son and successor, Henry III., we find it, to a 
 certain degree, mature and perfect. This, if we take the year 1188, 
 the penultimate of Henry II., when the work of layamonmay be 
 thought to have been finished (the manuscript itself being of a not 
 much later date), and the year 1278, when Robert of Gloucester 
 completed his rhyming chronicle, no more than a single centur;'-, 
 you find an entirely different appearance, with a considerable degree 
 of rough energy, and a tolerably smooth and accurate metre, for the 
 time, though it is generally thought to be conceived in a provincial 
 dialect, and, in that case, may afford afar from favourable specimen 
 of the English even at that time. 
 
 The King of England still adhered to the Norman- French, as far 
 as one may rely upon Robert of Brunne, a good evidence in general, 
 and who had the opportunity, in this instance, of knowing his authors' 
 precise meaning, they residing only at a short distance from each 
 other : " The kyng said on hie, ' Symon,jeo vous defie /'" We never 
 know him to speak a word of English. The last long expiring efforts 
 of the Saxon language were made in the forty-third year of this 
 
 * A specimen of English poetry, apparently of the same age, is preserved by 
 Benedict, Abbot of Peterborough (622), Roger de Hoveden (678), and in the 
 manuscript chronicle of Lanercost. " In this year (1190)," says the former, "was 
 fulfilled that prophecy, which of old was found written in stone tables, near the 
 town of the King of England, which is called Here ; which Henry (the Second), 
 King of England, had given to Randal (? William) FitzStephen, in which the same 
 Randiil CWilliam) built a new house, in the pinnacle whereof he placed the effigy of 
 a hart, which is believed to have been done that this prophecy might be fulfilled, 
 in which it is said — 
 
 " "Whan thu sees in Here hert yreret, 
 Than sillen Engles in three be ydeled. 
 That an into Yrland al to late waie, 
 That other into Puille mid prude bileve, 
 The thridde into Airhahen herd all wreken drechegen." 
 
 As the inscription was set up when the house was built, before the death of 
 Henry H., in 1189, it may be regarded as a very ancient and singular specimen of 
 the English language, which had not yet, it would seem, at least universally, 
 adopted rhyme to what is called poetry, though the example of St. Godric, already 
 mentioned, will serve to prove that it was not altogether disused even at so early a 
 period (see Bibllothecit Poetlcat 1802). 
 t M. Paris, 204. 
 
Metrical Romances. 41 
 
 reig-n (1258-9), in the shape of a writ to his subjects in Huntingdon- 
 shire, and, as it is there said, to every other in the liingdom, in 
 support of the Oxford provisions. Certain it is, that this once famous 
 language had already become obsolete, and utterly incapable of dis- 
 charging its functions, being no longer either written or spoken : 
 and "there," as the worthy Lord Balcarres expressed himself, at 
 the close of his final speech on the dissolution of the Scotch Parlia- 
 ment, " is the end of an auld sang." 
 
 King Edward I. generally, or, according to Andrew of Wyntoun,* 
 constantly, spoke the French language, both in the council and in 
 the field, many of his sayings in that idiom being recorded by our old 
 historians. \Vfien in the council at Norham, in 1291-2, Anthony 
 Beck had, as it is said, proved to the king, by reason and eloquence, 
 that Bruce was too dangerous a neighbour to be King of Scotland, 
 his Maj esty replied, ' ' Par le sang de Dieu vouz aves Men esckanie ; ' ' 
 and accordingly adjudged the crown to Balliol ; of whom, refusing 
 to obey his summons, he afterwards said, "A cefol felon telfolie 
 fats ! S'il ne vault venir d nous nous viendrons a lui."\ 
 
 There is but one instance of his speaking English, which was 
 when the great sultan sent ambassadors, after his assassination, to 
 protest that he had no knowledge of it. These, standing at a dis- 
 tance, adored the king, prone on the ground ; and Edward said in 
 English ("in Anglico"), "You indeed adore, but you little love 
 me ;" nor understood they his words, because they spoke to him by 
 an interpreter. \ 
 
 King Edward II., likewise, who married a French princess, used 
 himself the French tongue. Sir Henry Spelman had a manuscript, in 
 which was a piece of poetry, entitled, " De le roi Edward le fiz rot 
 Edward, le chanson qu'il fist mesmes," which Lord Orford was 
 unacquainted with. His son, Edward III., always wrote his letters 
 or despatches in French, as we find them preserved by Robert of 
 Avesbury ; and in the early part of his reign (1328), even the Oxford 
 scholars were confined in conversation to Latin or French. § That 
 speech, however, soon afterwards began to decline. In the thirty-sixth 
 year of his reign (1362), an Act was made, the preamble whereof states, 
 "For this that it is oftentimes shewed to the king, by the prelates, 
 dukes, earls, barons, and all the commonalty, the great mischiefs 
 which are come to many of the realm, for this that the laws, customs, 
 and statutes of the realm are not commonly known in the same realm, 
 because that they are pleaded, shown, and judged in the French lan- 
 guage, which is too much unknown in the said realm, so that the 
 persons who plead, or are impleaded in the courts of the king, and the 
 
 * See ii., 46, 76, 83, 97. 
 t Scoti Ou-onicon, ii., 147, 156. 
 + Hemingford (Gale), 591. 
 § Warton, i., 6, n. 6. 
 
42 Ancient English 
 
 courts of others, have not understanding nor knowledge of that which 
 is said for them, nor against them, by their Serjeants and other 
 pleaders, etc., ordains that all pleas, which shall be to plead in his 
 courts, be pleaded in the English language, and that they be entered 
 and enrolled in Latin ; " which was not much better understood, it 
 is presumed, by the suitors than the French. 
 
 This famous statute, at the same time, is itself in French, which, 
 in fact, continued in use till the time of King Richard III. ; and if 
 the Serjeants and lawyers ceased to plead in that tongue, they cer- 
 tainly continued to write their year books, reports, abridgements, 
 and summaries, in the same even so late as the last century, in which 
 Chief Baron Comyns compiled his Digest. It likewise continued to 
 be used in the mootings of the inns of court till a still later period, 
 though it was certainly punishable to pronounce it properly.* 
 
 There is a single instance preserved of this monarch's use of the 
 English language. He appeared, in 1349, in a tournament at Canter- 
 bury, with a white swan for his impress, and the following motto 
 embroidered on his shield : — 
 
 " Hay, Hay, the wythe swan ! 
 By godes soul, i am thy man " f 
 
 Lewis Beaumont, Bishop of Durham, 13 17, understood not a word 
 of either Latin or English. In reading the bull of his appointment, 
 which he had been taught to spell for several days before, he stumbled 
 upon the word metro;politich, which he in vain endeavoured to pro- 
 nounce ; and having hammered over it a considerable time, at last 
 cried out in his mother-tongue, " Seit;pour dite ! Par seynt Lowys, 
 il nefu;pas curteis qui ceste parole ici escrit." % 
 
 Gower wrote much more in French and Latin than in English ; his 
 S;peculum meditantis is in the first of those languages ; his Vox 
 clamantis in the second ; and his Confessio amantis, though in the 
 third, a manifest version from both. 
 
 He even inserts pure French words in his English poetry ; for 
 instance : — 
 
 " To ben upon his Men venu. 
 The first whiche shall him salu" (Fo. 35, b"). 
 
 " The dare not drede tant ne quant " (Fo. 41, etc.) 
 This, too, was the case with Chaucer, though disputed by Mister 
 
 * Barrington's Observations on the Statutes, 63, n. [u). 
 
 t See'Wa.non's History of Englisk Poetry, )., 251. . He had another, "It is as 
 it is ; " and may have had a third, ' ' Ha St. Edward ! Ha St. George I " 
 
 J Robert de Graystanes, Anglia sacra, i. , 761 : "Take it as said! By St. 
 Lewis, he was not very civil who wrote this word here." The country school- 
 masters in certain small villages of the north have recourse to a similar evasion 
 when any of their little pupils are staggered at a difficult word : " It is a yowth," 
 says Holofernes ; " pass it over." 
 
Metrical Romances. 43 
 
 Tyrwhitt," who, however, allows in another place that " our 
 poets (who have, generally, the principal share in modelling a 
 language) found it their interest to borrow as many words as they 
 conveniently could from France, etc., etc. ; " * which is certainly as 
 true of Chaucer as of Gower or any other poet; more especially 
 in their translations, where, from a want of words, they take the 
 French as they find it. A striking proof of this fact, in the case of 
 both Gower and Chaucer, is that they adopted the mode of French 
 poetry, which ends one subject or sentence with half the rhyme, and 
 begins a new one with the other half; which few, if any, other 
 English poets are, at least constantly, known to do. Nothing is 
 more plausible than Warton's opinion that Chaucer imitated the 
 Provenyal poets ; His Dreme, The Flower and the Leaf, The 
 Assemble of Ladies, The House of Fame, and, it may be, others, are 
 very much in the manner of the troubadours ; even the Roman de 
 la rose is, apparently, an imitation of this kind ; which peradven- 
 ture might rather set him upon the translation. At any rate, the 
 EngUsh language, such as it is, or is esteemed to be, was by these 
 means greatly enlarged, as well as improved, in this reign, par- 
 ticularly by those two poets, not forgetting Robert of Brunne, to 
 whom Warton has done great injustice, and Lawrence Minot, whose 
 merit he was a stranger to. 
 
 The first instance of the English language which Mister Tyrwhitt 
 had discovered in the parliamentary proceedings was the Confession 
 of Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in 1398. t He might, however, 
 have met with a petition of the mercers of London ten years earlier.} 
 The oldest English instrument, produced by Rymer, is dated 
 1368 ; § but an indenture in the same idiom, betwixt the Abbot and 
 convent of Whitby and Robert the son of John Bustard, dated at 
 York in 1343,11 is the earliest known ; the date of 1324, given in 
 Whatley's translation of Rapin's Acta regia (vol. i., page 394) 
 being either a falsification or a blunder for 1384, as appears by the 
 Foedera, whence it was taken. 
 
 There is every reason, indeed, to believe that the English language, 
 before the invention of printing, was held by learned or literary men 
 in very little esteem. In the library of Glastonbury Abbey, which 
 bids fair to have been one of the most extensive in the kingdom, 
 in 1248 there were but four books in English, and those upon 
 religious subjects, all beside " vetusta et inutilia." 1 We have not 
 a single historian in English prose before the reign of Richard IL, 
 
 * See his edition of The Canterbury Tales, IV., i., etc., 45. 
 
 t IV., 25. 
 
 } Rot. Pari., III., 225. 
 
 § VII., 526. 
 
 II Charlton's History of Whitby, 247. 
 
 t John of Glastonbury, 435. 
 
44 Ancient English 
 
 when John Treviza translated the Polychronicon of Randal 
 Higden. Boston of Bury, who seems to have consulted all the 
 monasteries in England, does not mention one author who had 
 written in English ; and Bale, at a later period, has, comparatively, 
 but an insignificant number : nor was Leland so fortunate as to 
 find above two or three English books in the monastic and other 
 libraries, which he rummaged and explored under the king's com- 
 mission. Gower, indeed, wrote well in all three languages, Latin, 
 French, and English ; and there is sufficient reason to think that 
 Chaucer, though he preferred his native tongue, was well acquainted 
 with not only the other two, but with the Italian also, which was, at 
 that time, little cultivated in his mother country. 
 
 § 3.— Romances. 
 
 No romances are to be expected among the Britons at the time 
 they possessed the whole or the greater part of Britain, of which 
 era the present Welsh are unable to produce the slightest literary 
 vestige. They pretend, indeed, to have the poems of several bards 
 of the sixth century, but they have no fabulous adventures or tales 
 in verse of any age, and only a few, chiefly translations, heretofore 
 specified, none of which can be proved anterior to the thirteenth 
 century. 
 
 The Saxons, of whose learning or literature some account has 
 been already given, as well as some idea of their poetry, being, for 
 the most part, an ignorant and illiterate people, it will be in vain to 
 hope for proofs among them of genius or original composition, at 
 least in their native tongue. In consequence no romance has been 
 yet discovered in Saxon, but a prose-translation already noticed. So 
 that if, as Warton pretends, the flourishing of the "tales of the 
 Scandinavian scalds among the Saxons " maybe justly presumed, it 
 is certain they had been soon lost, as neither vestige nor notice is 
 preserved of them in any ancient writer ; nor, in fact, would any but 
 a stupid fool or rank impostor imagine that any of these suppositi- 
 tious Scandinavian tales existed in the middle of the fifth century, 
 when the Saxons first established themselves in Britain. He 
 pretends likewise that "they imported with them into England the 
 old Runick language and letters ;" but whatever vestiges of either 
 exist in the northern parts of the kingdom are by more learned 
 writers attributed to the Danes.* 
 
 The most ancient romance now extant in the English language, if 
 it may be so called, being a strange and apparently corrupt mixture 
 of Saxon and Norman, in the style of the Saxon poetry, without 
 
 * I., c, u, b. The Runick characters exhibit proofs of Christianity, and must, 
 consequently, be very late, and are, probably, forged. 
 
Metrical Romances. 45 
 
 rhyme, is a sort of licentious version, by one Layamon, a priest, at 
 Ernlye-upon-Severne, witli great probability about the time of 
 Henry II. or Richard I., the manuscript itself being- not later than 
 the commencement or at least the earlier part of the thirteenth 
 century, chiefly it seems from the Brut of Maistre Wace, Gace, or 
 Gasse, which was itself, in some measure, a translation from Geoffrey 
 of Monmouth's British History, and was finished in 1 155. A curious 
 specimen of this singular production maybe read to great advantage 
 in the elegant Specimens of Early English Poetry, published by 
 George Ellis, Esq.* The original is in the Cotton Library (Claudius, 
 A. ix.), in which invaluable collection was formerly a later and 
 modernised copy (Otho, c. xiii.), unfortunately destroyed in the 
 dreadful fire which happened in that invaluable repository, 1731. A 
 specimen of it, however, is luckily preserved in Wanley's Catalogue 
 of Saxon MSS. 
 
 Our King Richard I., in the first, as we are told by Du Verdier, 
 frequented the Court of Raymond Berenger, or Berenguier, Count 
 of Provence, the last of that name, and there fell in love with Leonore, 
 or Helyonne, one of the four daughters of that count, whom he 
 afterwards married. This princess sent him " un beau romant, en 
 rime Provingalle, des amours de Blandin de Cornaille et de 
 Guilhen de Myremas, des beaux f aids d'armes qu'ils firent I'un 
 pour la belle Bryand et Pautre pour la belle Irland, dames 
 d' incomparable beaute;"\ unfortunately now lost. 
 
 He had either a servant or a friend named Blondel de Nesle, who 
 was a minstrel, and discovered the king in the imperial prison, by 
 singing under his window the half of a Provenf al song of his own 
 composition, and. pausing, the royal prisoner sung the other ; which 
 certified Blondel where he was confined, and enabled his subjects to 
 obtain his ransom. The song is still extant. This gallant monarch, 
 himself a celebrated poet, as well in Norman as in Provenfal, was the 
 subject of several romances. Leland found the Historia de Ricardo 
 rege carmine scripta, in the library of Croyland Abbey,J and in that 
 of the Abbey of Glastonbury, in 1248, were the Gesta Ricardi 
 registered. Both these, no doubt, were a romance, or two different 
 romances, in the French language. A copy of the same poem, or 
 
 * See i., 61. 
 
 t Bihliotheque, 1221. Nostredames, Les vies des foetes Provenf aux, 1575, p. 140 
 C'rescimbeni (II , 8) tells the same story, and adds that the king, when prisoner 
 composed sonnets, which he sent to Beatrix, the sister of this Leonora. It is well- 
 known, however, that he actually manied Berengaria, daughter of Sancho, King of 
 Navarre, though some love affair between him and one of the princesses of Provence 
 may nevertheless have taken place. It may be observed at the same time that 
 Richard, Earl of Cornwall, King of the Romans, brother to Henry III., actually 
 married Sanchia, daughter of Raymond, Earl of Provence, and that he is 
 occasionally confounded by foreign writers with Richard I. Another daughter of 
 Raymond was married to Henry III, 
 
 tCoU. III., 30. 
 
46 Ancient English 
 
 some other on the same subject, is in the library of Turin, and in the 
 national library at Paris (formerly the Bibliotheque du roi, .7532), 
 is the '■'■Histoire de Richard, roi d'Angleterre et de Maque- 
 more d'Irlande, en rime," fo. This Maquemore is Dermond Mac 
 Morough, King of Leinster, who, having ravished the wife of O'Rory, 
 King of Lethcoin, daughter of Melachlin MacColman, King of 
 Leinster, and being, on that account, attacked by Roderick O'Connor, 
 King of Connaught, implored and obtained the assistance of King 
 Henry II., which procured to him and his successors the dominion 
 of Ireland.* Ducange also cites ^t. Histoire de la mart Richard, 
 roy d' Angleterre, meaning, it is presumed, this Richard, sumamed 
 Cosur-de-lion. 
 
 Kyng Richard Cuer du Lyon was printed by Wjmkyn de 
 Worde in 1528, in quarto and black letter ; and, according to Mister 
 Warton, an edition by the same printer in 1509 (C.R., 734, 8vo.) 
 "This," he says, " was in the Harleian library;" but unless there 
 were an edition beside No. 5933, he is probably mistaken. He 
 likewise mentions a third, "Impr. for W.C., 4to." Among the 
 " Englyshe boks off (Sir) John Paston" was " Kyng Ri cur de lion."t 
 The MS. copies of the English romance, doubtless a translation from 
 the French, contain many variations. One of these is in the library 
 of Caius College, Cambridge (D. 18); another Doctor Farmer had (im- 
 perfect) ; the fragment of a third is in the Harleian collection (No. 
 4690), in the British Museum ; and another in the Auchinleck MS. in 
 the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. "The victorious achievements 
 of that monarch," according to Warton, "were so famous in the 
 reign of Henry the Second, as to be made the subject of a picture 
 {duellum regis Ricardi) in the royal palace of Clarendon" (1246,! 
 in the time of Henry III.) 
 
 No romance in English rhyme has been hitherto discovered or 
 mentioned to exist before the reign of Edward 1., towards the end of 
 which, as we may fairly conjecture, thai oi" Horn- Child," avery con- 
 cise and licentious translation, or imitation, andabridgement, rather, 
 of the French original, nearly two centuries older, made its first 
 appearance. There is every reason to conclude that the other 
 romances mentioned by Chaucer, Ypotys, Bevis, Sir Guy, Sir 
 Lybeaus, Pleindam,our, and, possibly, Sire Percivell, were in Eng- 
 lish verse, and in all probability much the same with those of which 
 copies have been preserved ; except the last, which no one but 
 Chaucer ever notices. This sort of translation continued till at least the 
 timeof KingHenry VI. ; in whichreign the St. Graal was translated 
 into English by Henry Lonelish, skinner, at the instance of one Harry 
 
 * See, in Harris's Hibernica, what may with great probability be an abridgement 
 of a fragment of this identical poem ; but why King Richard is introduced does not 
 appear. 
 
 t Original Letters^ etc., ii., 300. 
 
 X I., 114- 
 
Metrical Romances. 47 
 
 Barton,* and contains, though imperfect both at beginning and end, 
 not less, according to Mister Nasmith, than 40,000 lines. Thomas 
 Chestre gave a free and enlarged version of the Lai de Lanval of 
 Mary of France ; and Robert de Thornton produced Morte Arthure 
 and Percyvell of Gallwas. Yein and Gawin seems to have been 
 written at an earlier period, and very probably in the reign of King 
 Richard II. There are not above two or three originally English, 
 among which we may safely reckon The Squyr of low degree ; 
 unless Sir Eglamour and Sir Tryamour may likewise have that 
 honour, till the originals be discovered. 
 
 It appears highly probable that the "rhyme " mentioned by Robert 
 of Brun,t concerning Gryme the fisher, the founder of Grymesby, 
 Hanlock the Dane, and his wife Goldeburgh, daughter to a King 
 Athelwold, "who all now," exclaims the learned Tyrwhitt, together 
 with their bard, — 
 
 Illacrymabiles 
 Urgentur ignotique long^ 
 Nocte, — 
 
 was an English romance, extant not only in the time of Henry de 
 Knyghton, the historian, who wrote about the year 1400,^ but also 
 in that of Camden,§ and even made use of by Warner, who, in the 
 twentieth chapter of his Albion's England, has told the same story 
 in effect, though in a different manner, under the names oi Ar gentile 
 and Curan, in exquisite poetry. Whether this poem were originally 
 composed in English, or were no more than a translation from the 
 French, cannot be now ascertained, as it seems to be utterly de- 
 stroyed; but in a part of a French metrical romance upon the 
 history of England, by Geoffrey Gaimar, a poet anterior to Maistre 
 Wace, to whose poem of Le Brut (though unfortunately mutilated) 
 it serves as a continuation, in a manuscript of the King' s Library in 
 the British Museum (13 A. xxi.), the story itself is certainly pre- 
 served, though whether written originally by Geoffrey, or taken from 
 some one of the " liveres Engles, en romanze eten Latin" of which 
 he had purchased many a copy before he could draw his work to the 
 end, particularly a book which, at the instance of the gentle dame 
 Constance Fitz-Gilbert, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who died in 
 1147,11 ^nd was sent for it to Helmsley, brought it away for him 
 from Walter Espie, who was dead in 1140; or the English book of 
 Washingburgh, in Lincolnshire, or how otherwise does not appear. 
 It is, however, a great curiosity, though too imperfect, as well as 
 too prolix, to insert here. In the meantime the paraphrase may be 
 
 * See his Catalogus, Bib. C.C.C.C, p. 54. 
 t Translation of Langetoft, 25. 
 J Co. 2320. 
 
 § Britannia, 569 ; or Gibson's edition, 1695, 471. 
 11 See the annals of Waverley, a house of his own foundation. 
 
48 Ancient English 
 
 perused, with great pleasure and equal delicacy, in Warner's book 
 already mentioned. 
 
 Robert of Brunne alludes to a romance of Dan Waryn, which 
 was probably of this period, and being both in French and English, 
 appears to have been highly popular, and, from the extracts pre- 
 served of it, a very singular and curious omposition of extraordinary 
 merit. The passage is as follows : — 
 
 " Wele I understonde, that the kyng Robyn * 
 Has dronken of that blode the drink of Dan Waryn. 
 Dan Waryn he les tonnes that he held, 
 With wrong he mad a res, and misberyng of scheld. 
 Sithen in to the forest he yede naked and wode, 
 Als a wilde beste, ete of the gras that stode : 
 Thus of Dan Waryn in his boke men rede."t 
 
 In Leland's Collectanea (i. 230) are "Thinges excerptid" (by him- 
 self) "out of an old English boke, yn ryme, of the gestes of Guarine 
 and his sunnes." The story commenced, it seems, with the time of 
 William the Conqueror, and the extracts are exceedingly interesting. 
 Fulco, the real hero of the romance, by Leland called " Fulco the 
 sectmde," was one of the four sons of Vnlco jirimus, son of Guarine, 
 or Waryn, who appears to have been a lord-marcher, on the borders 
 of Wales, as his son and grandson were after him, the latter being 
 appointed by Richard I. "John, son to King Henry," it is said, 
 " and Fulco (the elder) felle at variance at Chestes, and John brake 
 Fulco hed with the chest-board ; and then Fulco gave him such a 
 blow that he had almost killid hym."J "Morice," it seems, 
 " sunne to Roger, that had Whitington castel gyven him by the 
 Prince of Wales, was made govener of the Marchis by King John, 
 that yn nowise lovid Fulco Guarin. Moryce desired to have the title 
 of Whitington confermed to hym by the brode seals of King John, to 
 whom he sent a cursore welle trappid to Balduines castel, and ob- 
 teined his purpose." Upon this, "Fulco and his brethem, with 
 Balduine, desired justes of King John for Whittington ; but he could 
 have no gracious answer. Wherefore he and his brethem forsaked 
 their homage to King John, and went from Winchester." They 
 afterward "laid wait for Morice as he went toward Salisbury; and 
 Fulco ther woundid hym ; and Bracy cut of Morice heed." The 
 whole of his adventures are too numerous to repeat ; but one, which 
 deserves to be noticed, is, that " Fulco resortid to one John of 
 
 * Robert de Brus, King of Scotland. 
 
 t P- 335- 
 
 I The like circumstance occurs in Gahcn le Rethoj-d, Ogier !c Daimoys, and Les 
 Quatrc Fih Aymon. Galyen receives a blow on the head from his uncle's chess- 
 board, which draws blood ; Baldwin, Ogier's bastard-son, had his head broke, and 
 was killed by Chariot, son of Charlemagne ; and Berthelot, his nephew, experiences 
 the same fate from Reynaud. 
 
Metrical Romances. 49 
 
 Raumpagne, a sothsayer and jocular, and made him his spy to 
 Morice at Whitington. He founde the meanes to caste them that 
 kept Bracy" (who, being sore wounded, had been taken and brought 
 by Audelegh to King John), "into a deadely slepe, and so he and 
 Bracy cam to Fulco to Whitington." Leland having stated that 
 " Fulco was taken by the Soldan (in Barbary), and brought onto 
 him," says, "Here lakkid a quayre or ii in tlie olde English booke 
 of the nobile actes of the Guarines ; and these thinges that follow 
 i translated cute of an olde French historie yn rime of the acts of 
 the Guarines onto the death of Fulco the 2." The popularity of the 
 French or English poem (the former being indisputably the original) 
 had caused some one to reduce or epitomise the story into French 
 prose ; and a fragment of this manuscript, apparently of the age of 
 EdwardII.,isfortunatelypreservedin the King's T/ibrary (12 C. XIL), 
 where the anecdote already mentioned from Leland's extracts will be 
 hereafter related. 
 
 The two most famous, if not the most ancient English metrical 
 romances now existing are those of Guy of Warwick and Bevis 
 of Southampton. Walter of Exeter, according to Bale {Ex biblio- 
 thecis, from the booksellers' shops), a native of Devonshire, and 
 professor of a sect of begging friars (a Dominican, as he thinks), at 
 the instance of one Baldwin, a citizen of Exeter, in the year 1301, 
 residing at St. Garrock in Cornwall, wrote the life of Guy, formerly 
 a famous Earl of Warwick, in one book; but Bale is a very dubious 
 authority. At any rate no such work is now extant, though Carew, 
 as if he had it in his library, says that this Walter " (de-)formed 
 the historie of Guy of Warwick." Hearne, in his appendix to 
 the Annates de Dunstaple has inserted " Girardi Cornubiensis 
 Historia Guidonis de Warwyke," from an old MS. in the library 
 of Magdalen College, Oxford, No. 147. This author, however, is 
 supposititious, and the MS., in all probability no older than the 
 fourteenth or fifteenth century, Lydgate translated from him. Guy 
 of Warwick is mentioned by no English historian before Robert of 
 Brunne or Peter de Langetoft, about 1340.* His story, at the same 
 time, is related in the Gesta Romanorum, c. 172; "and probably," as 
 Warton thinks, "this is the early outline of the life of that renowned 
 [but ideal] champion ;"t and in the Harley MSS. (No. 525) is an old 
 English poem, entitled Speculum Gy de Warewyke per Alquinum 
 heremitam, beginning "Herkenethe alle unto my speche." The 
 Alquinus here meant was Albinus Alcuinus, a Saxon-Englishman 
 (and not as Sir James Foulis asserts, a Scotch Highlander), who 
 was the preceptor to Charlemagne, being grounded upon his epistle 
 De virtutibus et vitiis ad Guidonem, com,item, here called Guy of 
 
 * "That was Guy of Warwik as the boke says ; 
 
 There he slduh Colbrant with hache Daness " (p. 32). 
 t III., 66. 
 
50 Ancient English 
 
 Warwick. Warton relates that the canticum Colbrondi was sung 
 by a juggler in the hall of Alexander, Prior of St. Swithin, Winchester, 
 before Adam de Orleton, bishop of that see, in 1333 ; and in 
 Bodley's MSS., Nos. 1731 and 3903, is a " Dis^utaiio inter 
 ^riorem aliquem et s^iritum Guidonis." The original French 
 " Homanz de Guide Warwyk," extant in C.C.C.C.L. 6 (formerly 
 in the library of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury) in the public 
 library (IVEore, 690), and the Harleian and King's MSS. 3775, and 8 
 F. ix., is of the thirteenth century. The English translation, which 
 exists in the library of Caius College, was first printed by William 
 Copland before 1567, and afterward by John Cawood, before 1571. 
 But, in fact and truth, famous as his name is, the man himself never 
 existed. This likewise is the case with Sir Bevis, of whom Camden, 
 with singular puerility says, "At the coming-in of the Normans, 
 one Bogo or Beavose, a Saxon, had this title (of Earl of Win- 
 chester), who in the battle of Cardiif in Wales, fought against the 
 Normans" (Gibson's Translation, 1695, co. 128). For this, how- 
 ever, in a way too usual with him, he cites no authority ; nor does 
 any ancient or veracious historian mention either Bogo, Beavose, or 
 the battle of Cardiff, which, by the way, was not, as we learn from 
 honest Caradoc of Llancarvan, contemporary with Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth, in 1138, built before 1079. His roman, in French, 
 however, is of the thirteenth century, and was extant in the magni- 
 ficent library of the Duke de la Valliere, as it is at present in the 
 late royal library at Turin. An English translation was printed by 
 Pynson, Copland, East, and another, and three MS. copies are 
 extant in the Public Library and that of Caius College, Cambridge, 
 and in the Auchinlech Collection, Edinburgh ; all three different 
 from the printed copy, and at least two of them from each other. 
 
 Neither Bevis nor Guy is mentioned by Dugdale in his Baronage, 
 and he must have been conscious that the latter's story was 
 altogether fabulous when he introduced it into his History of 
 Warwickshire. 
 
 " Bevis," as we are gravely told by the historian of English poetry, 
 " was a Saxon chieftain, who seems to have extended his dominion 
 along the southern coasts of England, which he is said [by whom ?] 
 to have defended against the Norman invaders. He lived at 
 Downton in Wiltshire." This is highly ridiculous; Bevis and 
 Guy were no more " EngHsh heroes" than Amadis de Gaule or 
 Perceforest; they are mere creatures of the imagination, and only 
 obtain an establishment in history because (like Mister Warton's) 
 it was usually written upon the authority of romance. He accounts 
 very ingeniously, however, for the fable of Dugdale, that the 
 Saracens had the story of Guy " in bookis of their own language" 
 (i-. HS)- 
 
 Chaucer, who mentions these two romances, notices, likewise, 
 Horn-Child, Ypotis, Sire Lyb, and Ple^indamour, none of which can, 
 
Metrical Romances. 51 
 
 of course, be so late as the year 1380, when the Canterbury Tales 
 are generally supposed to have been published, and one of them at 
 least will be proved in another place to be nearly a century older. 
 The last is unknown. "That of Sir Isembras," likewise, according 
 to Warton, " was familiar in the time of Chaucer, and occurs in 
 The Rhyme of Sir Thopas," actually referring in a note to 
 " V. 6." It is, however, a monstrous lie. 
 
 "The stories of Guy and Bevis, with some others, were probably 
 the invention of English minstrels." * There are, doubtless, metrical 
 romances, such as Eglamour, Triamour, the Squyr of lowe degree, 
 and it may be one or two more, of which no French originals are 
 known, and, therefore, may be fairly concluded to be of English 
 invention ; but it is absolutely impossible that this can be the case 
 with Guy, Bevis, or the rest, of which these originals are extant, 
 and no one who will take the trouble to compare them could have 
 the slightest doubt upon the subject. The MS. French metrical 
 romances are mostly of the twelfth or thirteenth century, the English 
 of the fourteenth and fifteenth ; obviously, therefore, they do not 
 stand upon the same footing, and the originals are always superior, 
 and sometimes to a very extraordinary degree. 
 
 Mister T3T:whitt thinks it extremely probable that these romances 
 {^Horn-Child, Sir Guy, and Bevis), though originally written in 
 French, were composed in England, and perhaps by Englishmen ; 
 for, says he, " we find that the general currency of the French lan- 
 guage here engaged several of our own countrymen to use it in their 
 compositions. He instances (doubtfully) Peter of Langtoft, as he is 
 said " by some to have been a Frenchman ' ' ; Robert Grosseteste, 
 Bishop of Lincoln in the time of Henry III., a native of Suffolk; 
 Helis de Guincestre {i.e. Winchester) ; and a romance, also, in 
 French verse, which he supposed to be the original of the English 
 Ipomedon, by Hue de Roteland, and Gower. This, indeed, may be 
 so, but it likewise may be otherwise ; Andrew of Wyntown, which 
 equally implies Winchester, was not, therefore, an Englishman, nor 
 ever in England. 
 
 In the year 1361 appeared a singular allegorical and satirical 
 romance in alliterative metre without rhyme, by one Robert Lange- 
 land, as it is alleged by some, without sufficient authority. It is, at 
 any rate, however, a poem of great merit. 
 
 Geoffirey Chaucer, the famous poet, who passed his youth and 
 the greater part of his life in the reign of Edward III., was a writer 
 of romances, though in his Rhyme of Sire Jho^as he attempts to 
 burlesque and ridicule those of his predecessors and contemporaries, 
 on account of what he calls their " drafty riming." The specimen, 
 however, completely proves how successful he would have been in a 
 
 III. xxii 
 
Ancient English 
 
 more serious exertion of his lyrical and inventive powers.* His 
 Troilus and Cresside was intended to be either read or sung, 
 probably in public, or even in the latter case to the harp : 
 "And redde where so thou be, or ellis songe."t 
 
 A learned and judicious gentleman is inclined to believe that we 
 have no English romance prior to the age of Chaucer which is not 
 a translation of some earlier French one.J After this decisive 
 opinion, which may be supported, if necessary, by producing the 
 original poems still extant in public libraries or private collections, 
 as well in our own country as upon the Continent, it is very strange 
 that Dr. Percy (for whose better information, it may be, the above 
 observation of his worthy friend was intended as a gentle reprimand) 
 should, in the last edition of his Reliques of A ncient English Poetry, 
 published some years after that gentleman's death, venture to assert 
 that Horn-Child, which he imagines, " although firom the mention of 
 Sarazens, etc.,§ it must have been written after the first Crusade in 
 1096," a pretty moderate conjecture; "yet from its Anglo-Saxon 
 language, or which it would be somewhat difficult for any other 
 critic to distinguish, can scarce," he says, "be dated later than 
 within a century after the Conquest." As if this had not been 
 sufficiently extravagant and ill-founded, as may be easily learned 
 from the elegant S;pecimens of Mister Ellis, "it appears," he adds, 
 " of genuine English growth, for after a careful examination I," he 
 says, '• cannot discover any allusion to French or Norman customs, 
 manners, composition, or phraseology;" as if such a circumstance 
 were essential, or even observable, in a romance written by either 
 French or Norman, where the scene is laid in a distant or imaginary 
 country; "no quotation," he proceeds, "as the romance saith."|| 
 Not a name or local reference, which was likely to occur to a 
 
 * Doctor Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, has endeavoured to deprive old Geoifrey 
 of the credit of this poem. " The Boke of the Giant Olyphant and Chylie Thofas 
 was not," he asserts, " A fiction of his own, but a stoky of antique fame, 
 AND VERY celebrated IN THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY," Letters, etc., iii., 218. 
 This, however, is no more than a usual dash of the Warburtonian school, or, in the 
 Gloucester prelate's own ' ' warm language," a lie. 
 
 t B. s, V. 1796. 
 
 X Chaucer, C. T., iv. , 68. Warton also has an argument to prove this, i., 38. 
 
 § The learned prelate does not appear to be aware that the name of Saracens is 
 used by the old English writers for the pagan Saxons or Danes. See the forged 
 laws of Edward the Confessor (Wilkins, 204), where Arthur is said to have "ex- 
 pelled the Saracens and enemies from his kingdom ;" and Warburton's note on 
 Shakspere (v. 382). Geoffrey of Monmouth calls Gonnund, a well-known King of 
 Denmark, King of the Africans (B. II., c. viii., 11). 
 
 II In Horn-Child and Maiden Rimnild, in the Auchinleck MS. in the Advocate's 
 Library, a different poem on the same subject, and, doubtless, from the same 
 original, the French is frequently referred to, as for instance :— 
 
 ' ' Thus in boke as we rede, 
 In rime as it is told." 
 
Metrical Romances. J 3 
 
 French Rimeur. The proper names are all of northern extraction, 
 because the story is predicated of the Saxon and Danes in England 
 and Ireland (though he mentions neither by that name). " So that 
 this," he concludes (a manuscript of the fourteenth century), "pro- 
 bably is the original, from which was translated the old French 
 fragment of Dan Horn, in the Harleyan MS. 527 (of, at least, a 
 couple of centuries earlier), mentioned by Tyrwhitt {Chaucer, iv., 68), 
 and by T. Warton [Hist., i., 38), whose extract ^ova. Horn- Child is 
 extremely incorrect." "O most lame and impotent conclusion!" 
 The truth of this last assertion will be readily admitted. " Com- 
 pare," he says, "the style of Child-Horn with the Anglo-Saxon 
 specimens in short verses and rhymes, which are assigned to the 
 century succeeding the Conquest, in Hickes's Thesaurus, Tom. I., 
 cap. 24, pp. 224 and 231." The comparison, indeed, would be easy, 
 but the result is not quite so certain. The Saxons, it is well known, 
 had no rhyme, nor is there a single vestige in Horn- Child of a more 
 intimate connection with the Saxon than was common to everything 
 written in the English language at that period, about the year 1300, 
 that is, and not "within a century of the Conquest." That the 
 metre is Norman, if the writer were not, is manifest from a specimen 
 given by Mister Ellis from M. de la Rue, of the kind of poetry used 
 by Philip de Than, which does not, as those ingenious gentlemen 
 choose to think, consist in making one-half (of a line rhyme) with 
 another half, any more than the composer of Horn-Child has done ; 
 but the truth is, that every two lines, being very short, are run to- 
 gether by the transcriber, for the salvation of parchment, — a practice 
 of which the Harlein MS. (which contains the latter) affords abundant 
 examples, many of the poems of that collection being written in 
 prose ; and sometimes, as Warton observes, three or four verses 
 together in one line, of which he gives instances.* 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 
 nations. It is, therefore, a vain and futile endeavour to seek for the 
 origin of romance. In all ages and all countries where literature 
 has been cultivated and genius and taste have inspired — whether in 
 India, Persia, Greece, Italy, or France — the earliest product of that 
 cultivation and that genius and taste has been poetry and romance, 
 with reciprocal obligations, perhaps, between one country and 
 another. The Arabians, the Persians, the Turks, and, in short, 
 almost every nation in the globe, abound in romances of their own 
 invention. The Scander nameh, or history of Alexander, by Nezami; 
 
 * I. 3S- 
 
54 Ancient English 
 
 about the twelfth century, is a poem of considerable bulk, and much 
 admired by the Persians, but has nothing in common with the 
 European poetry on that subject. The Persick romance oiMejnoun 
 and Leila, in prose and verse, is a most beautiful specimen of the 
 art and genius of that extraordinary people. The enumeration of 
 those specimens which are preserved in the Parisian and other 
 great Continental libraries would be endless. The libraries of the 
 monasteries, according to Warton, were full of romances ; but this is 
 very doubtful.* 
 
 In that of Glastonbury, at any rate (already mentioned as probably 
 the largest in England), we only find the four following :— the Gesta 
 Normannorum, the Liber de excidio Troj'ts, the Gesta Ricardi 
 Regis, and the Gesta Alexandri Regis ; all which, it is most 
 probable, were in French verse, in which they are known to exist. 
 The catalogue was taken in 1248.! In the appendix to Dart's 
 History of the church of Canterbury is a meagre catalogue of books 
 anciently in the monastic library, among which there are not two 
 articles in either poetry or English. The monks at the same time 
 appear to have made no use of their books, as Leland complained 
 when he had to shake oif the dust and cobwebs of Abingdon library. 
 In Madoxe's Formulare is a memorandum, or certificate, under 
 seal, that on such a day, in the first year of King Edward III. 
 (13 15), was found " a book which speaks of the four principal gests, 
 and of Charles; the romance (of) Titus and Vespasian; the 
 romance of Aygres ; the romance of Marchauns ; the romance of 
 Edmund and Agoland; the romance (of) Girard de Vyeine ; the 
 romance (of) Williame de Orenges and Tabaud de Arable; the 
 boke of Life; the romance of Troy-^'X These were, doubtless, 
 French metrical romances ; but where they had come from, or to 
 whom they belonged, is not stated. 
 
 In a voluminous metrical version of Guido de Colonna, on the war 
 of Troy, cited by Warton, and by him erroneously attributed to 
 Lydgate, the translator, in his prologue, enumerates several popular 
 romances of his own time — 
 
 " Many speken of men that romances rede, etc.. 
 Of Bevys, Gy, and Gawayne, 
 Of kyng Rychard, and Owayne, 
 Of Tristram and Percyvale, 
 Of Rowland Ris,^ and Aglavayle, 
 
 * I. 87. 
 
 t John of Glastonbury, by Heame, 435. 
 
 % Titus and Vespasian, Girard de Vienne, IVi/liame D'Orenges,andtheToman(x 
 of Troy, are all three in the British Museum. 
 
 § Rowland Ris is a character in the romance of Tristrem, by Thomas Rymour ; 
 doctor Percy, or the learned Scottish divine who inspected, on his account, the 
 Auchinleck MS. , has created another champion, called Rouland Louth, from the 
 want of apprehension that lou^h, the identical word, meant laughed I 
 
Metrical Romances. 55 
 
 Of A rcheroun, and of Octavian, 
 Of Charles, and of Cassibedlan, 
 Of Keveloke* Home, and of Wade, 
 In romances that ben of hem bimade, 
 That gestours dos of hem gestes, 
 At maungeres, and at great festes, 
 Her dedis ben in remembrance, 
 In many fair romance." t 
 
 All these appear to have been in English rhymes, and most of 
 them are extant at this day. 
 
 Another extract, of the same kind, is given by Warton, from the 
 prologue to Richard Cceur de Lion : 
 
 " Many romayns men make newe, 
 Of good knightes, and of trewe ; 
 Of ther dedes men make romauns, 
 Both in England, and in France ; 
 Of Rowland and of Olyvere, 
 And of every dosepere ; 
 Oi Alysaundre, and of Charlemagne, 
 Oi Kyng Arthur , and of Gawayne ; 
 How they wer knyghtes good and courtoys, 
 Of Tur;pin, and of Oger the Danois, 
 Of Troye men rede in ryme, 
 Of Hector and of Achilles, etc." J 
 
 Again from a second prologue : 
 
 " Herkene now how my tale gothe, 
 Though I swere to you no othe, 
 I wyll you rede romaynes none, 
 Ne of Partonape, ne of Ypomedon, 
 Ne oi Alisaunder, ne of Charlemayne, 
 Ne oi Arthur, ne of Gawayne, 
 Ne of Bevis, ne of Guy (ne) of Sydrake, 
 Ne of Ury, ne of Octavian, 
 Ne of Hector, the strong man ; 
 Ne of 'Jason, neither of Achilles, 
 Ne of Eneas, neither Hercules.% 
 
 * It should be Haveloke, see before. 
 
 t History of English Poetry, i., 119. 
 
 X History of English Poetry, i., 122. These must have been either wholly or 
 principally romances in French metre ; as Rmaland, Oliver, Charlemagne, Turpin, 
 Oger the Dane, Hector, and Achilles never seem to have appeared in EngUsh 
 verse. 
 
 § History of English Poetry, i., 123. Warton, in a note, ferhapses Pertonape, 
 to be Parthenope, or Parthenopcus, whom, he elsewhere calls, " one of Statius's 
 heroes " (ii., fig. h, n, g), but, in fact, it alludes to the romance of Pertenopex, 
 comte de Blois, a famous roman defierie in French rhyme, but which never made 
 its appearance in English. 
 
56 Ancient English 
 
 The romances of Rouland, Olyvere, Gy of Warwyk, Wawayn, 
 and Tristram, which, says the poet, "mockel is lesyngis," are, 
 likewise, mentioned in a sort of prologue to an old book of the Lives 
 of the Saints, written about the year 1200.* 
 
 "The anonymous author of an ancient manuscript poem, entitled 
 The bake of stories called Cursor mundi, ' ' translated from the French, 
 seems, as Warton observes, to have been of the same opinion. " His 
 work," he says, " consists of religious legends ; but, in the prologue, 
 he takes occasion to mention many tales of another kind, which were 
 more agreeable to the generality of readers : " — 
 
 " Men lykynyej^zj for to here, 
 And romans rede in divers maneree, 
 Oi Alexandre ^e. conquerour. 
 Of fulius CcBsar the emperour. 
 Of Greece and Troy the strong stryf, 
 Ther many a man lost his lyfe : 
 Of Brut, that baron bold of hand. 
 The first conquerour of Englond, 
 Of king Ar tour that was so ryche ; 
 Was non in hys tyme so ilyche : 
 Of wonders that among his knyghts felle. 
 And auntyrs dedyn as men her telle. 
 As Gaweyn, and othir full abylle, 
 Which that kept the round tabyll, 
 How King Charles and Rowland fawght. 
 With Sarazins, nold thei be cawght ; 
 Of Tristram and Ysoude the swete, 
 How thei with love first gan mete, 
 Of Kyng John, and of Isenbras, 
 Of Ydoine and Amadas." f 
 
 The fragment of a metrical romance, e^n^SA&A. Le mort Arthur e, 
 preserved in the.Harleian MSS., No. 2252, and of which Humphrey 
 Wanley has said that the writer " useth many Saxon or obsolete 
 words ; " and doctor Percy, fancifully and absurdly, that "x'l seems 
 to be quoted in Syr Bevis," is in fact nothing more than part 
 of the Morte Arthur of Caxton turned into easy alternate verse ; 
 a very unusual circumstance, no doubt, in the time of Henry the 
 Seventh, to which Wanley properly allots it.J The antiquated words 
 used by this versifier are manifestly affected. Caxton's book is the 
 only one known by the name of La mort D' Arthur, which he took 
 as he found it. 
 
 It is no proof, because any metrical romances in English may not 
 
 * Ibid. , 123. See, also, a long passage, to the same purpose, in Skelton's works, 
 cited by mister Warton in his Observations on the Faiiy Queen, it., 42. 
 t History of English Poetry, i., 123, u. 
 X See Bedwell's preface to The Tournament of Tottenham. 
 
Metrical Romances. 57 
 
 happen to mention reading, they were not actually composed by 
 writers at their desk. The minstrels were too ignorant and too 
 vulgar to translate pieces of several thousand lines ; though such 
 pieces may have been translated or written for them, as many a 
 minstrel, no doubt, could sing and play what he had not the genius 
 to compose, nor even the capacity to write or read. 
 
 The " lytell geste of RobynHode" could not, it is true, have been 
 composed by any monk, in his eel ; but there can be no reason for 
 supposing it not to have been composed by a priest in his closet : 
 and, in fact, to an author of that description, this identical legend, or 
 one of the same kind, hath been expressly ascribed.* 
 
 Sir Launsal is, certainly, a translation, the French original being 
 extant in many libraries. It is not, however, by any means "the 
 only piece of this sort, in which is inserted the name of the author." 
 
 There is not, however, one single metrical romance in English 
 known to exist, which appears to have been written by a minstrel. 
 The line adduced by Bishop Percy, from one in his folio MS., 
 
 " Then is it time for Mee to carpe," 
 
 by no means proves that the man who sung it had himself composed 
 the words ; it is sufficient that it had been originally intended to 
 be sung by some minstrel, peradventure by many, or even by the 
 whole body. 
 
 Several metrical romances, according to Bishop Percy's account, 
 are extant in his lordship's celebrated folio manuscript, many of which 
 are not to be now found in print ; amongst these are the following : — 
 Sir Cauline, John the Revc, Guy and Colbronde, Libeaux Dis- 
 conius (a different copy from the one here printed), King Arthur 
 and the King of Cornwall, Sir Lionel, The Greene Knight, The 
 Earl of Carlisle, Sir Lambwell, Merline, King Arthur's Death, 
 The Legend of King Arthur, The Legend of Sir Guy, Eger and 
 Grime, and many songs and ballads. The MS. (compiled by 
 Thomas Blount, author of The Law-Dictionary, etc., about the 
 middle of the seventeenth century), as we are told by the right 
 reverend prelate, f is a long narrow volume, containing igi son- 
 nets, ballads, historical songs, and metrical romances, either in 
 the whole or in part, for many of them are extremely mutilated and 
 imperfect. 
 
 "The first and last leaves," he says, "are wanting; and of 54 
 pages near the beginning half of every leaf hath been torn away, and 
 several others are injured towards the end ; besides that through a 
 great part of the volume the top or bottom line, and sometimes both, 
 have been cut off in the binding." . . . The transcripts moreover 
 I— 
 
 * There is another monk or priest, who has written several metrical romances. 
 
 t The " advertisement " is signed "Thomas Percy, fellow of St. John's College, 
 Oxford," his lordship's nephew, whom the late Mister Steevens assured the present 
 editor to have never seen a word of it. 
 
58 Ancient English 
 
 " are sometimes extremely incorrect and faulty, being in such in- 
 stances probably made from defective copies, or the imperfect recita- 
 tion of illiterate fingers, so that a considerable portion of the song or 
 narrative is sometimes omitted, and miserable trash or nonsense 
 not unfrequently introduced into pieces of considerable merit:" the 
 copyist, it seems, often growing " so weary of his labour as to write 
 on without the least attention to the sense or meaning : so that the 
 word which should form rhyme is found misplaced in the middle of the 
 line ; and we have such blunders as these, want and willioi wanton 
 ■will; even ^an and wale iot wan and ;pale, etc., etc." Certainly 
 this is a most extraordinary, as well as unfortunate, book, and the 
 labour of the right reverend editor in correcting, refining, improv- 
 ing, completing, and enlarging the orthography, grammar, text, 
 style, and supplying the chasms and hiatuses, valde deflenda ! 
 must have equalled that of Hercules in cleansing the Augean stable : 
 so that a parcel of old rags and tatters were thus ingeniously and 
 haply converted into an elegant new suit. 
 
 The existence and authenticity of this famous MS. in its present 
 mutilated and miserable condition is no longer to be denied or dis- 
 puted ; at the same time, it is a certain and positive fact, that, in the 
 elegant and refined work it gave occasion to, there is scarcely one 
 single poem, song, or ballad, fairly or honestly printed, either from 
 the above fragment or other alleged authorities, from the beginning 
 to the end ; many pieces, also, being inserted, as ancient and 
 authentic, which there is every reason to believe never existed before 
 its publication. To correct the obvious errors of an illiterate tran- 
 scriber, to supply irremediable defects, and to make sense of nonsense, 
 are certainly essential duties of an editor of ancient poetry, provided 
 he act with integrity and publicity; but secretly to suppress the 
 original text, and insert his own fabrications for the sake of providing 
 more refined entertainment for readers of taste and genius, is no 
 proof of either judgment, candour, or integrity. 
 
 In what manner this ingenious editor conducted himself in this 
 patched-up publication will be evident from the following parallel, 
 which may be useful to future manufacturers in this line : — 
 
 The Marriage of Sir Gawaine.* 
 
 The original (printed in large type) from Reliques, edition 1795, 
 iii., 350. The improvement (printed in small type) from Reliques, 
 edition 1775, iii., 11. 
 
 " King Arthur lives in merry Carleile, 
 And seemely is to see ; 
 
 * The lines or words marked with elevated commas are substitutions in place of 
 the old readings. The whole in italics is his own. 
 
Metrical Romance^. 59 
 
 And there he hath with him queen Genever, 
 That bride so bright of blee. 
 
 King Arthur lives in merry Carleile, 
 
 And seemely is to see ; 
 And there " with him queene Guenever, 
 
 That bride so bright of blee. 
 
 And there he hath with him queen Genever, 
 
 That bride so bright in bower, 
 And all his barons about him stoode. 
 
 That were both stiffe and stowre. 
 
 And there "with him queene Guenever, 
 Thdt bride so bright in bowre ; 
 
 And all his barons about him stoode 
 That were both stiffe and stowre. 
 
 The king kept a royall Christmasse 
 Of mirth and great honor, 
 
 when 
 
 [About nine stanzas wanting] . 
 
 The king "a royale Christmasse kept," 
 "With" mirth and "princelye cheare," 
 
 To him repaired many a knighte, 
 That came bothfarre and neare. 
 
 And when they were to dinner sette, 
 
 And cups went freely round ; 
 Before them came a f aire damselle. 
 
 And knelt upon the ground. 
 
 A boone, a boone, O kinge Arthure, 
 
 I beg a boone of thee ; 
 Avenge me of a carlish knighte, 
 
 Who hath shent my love and mee. 
 
 At Tearne-Wadling his castle stands, 
 
 Near to that lake so fair, 
 And proudlye rise the battlements. 
 
 And streamers deck the air. 
 
 Noe gentle knighte, nor ladye gay, 
 
 May passe that castle-walle ; 
 But from thatfoule discourteous knighte 
 
 Mishappe will them befalle. 
 
 Hee's twyce the size of common men, 
 IVi' thewes, and sinewes strange. 
 
 And on his b acke he bears a clubbe 
 That is both thicke and longe. 
 
 This grimme barbne 'twas our hard happe, 
 
 Butyester morne to see ; 
 Went to his bowre he bare my love, 
 
 And sore misused mee. 
 
 And when I told him, king Arthiire, 
 
 As lyttle shold him spare; 
 Goe tell, sayd hee, that cuckold kinge, 
 
 To meete mee if he dare. 
 
6o Ancient English 
 
 Upp then steyted king Arthiire 
 
 And swave by hilte and dale. 
 He ne'er wolde quilt that grimme barhne, 
 
 Till he had made liiin quail. 
 
 Go fetch my sword Excalibar ; 
 Goe saddle mee my steede ; 
 Nozu, by my fay e, that grimme barhne 
 Shall rue this ruthfulle deede. 
 
 And when he came to Tearne IVadlinge, 
 
 Benethe the castle walk : 
 Come forth I come forth ! thou provide baronCf 
 
 Or yielde thyself my thralle. 
 
 On magicke grounde that castle stoode, 
 
 And fenced with many a spelle : 
 Noe valiant knighte could tread theron, 
 
 But straite his courage felle. 
 
 Forth then rush'd that carlish knight, 
 
 King Arthur felte the charme, 
 His sturdy sinewes lost their strengthe, 
 
 Downe sunke his feeble arme. 
 
 N owe yield thee, yield thee, king Arthiire, 
 
 Now yield thee, unto mee. 
 Or fighte with mee, or lose thy lande, 
 
 No better termes maye bee. 
 
 Unlesse thou sweare upon the rood. 
 
 And promise on thy fay e, 
 Here to returne to Tearne JVadling, 
 
 Upon the new-yeare's daye ; 
 
 And bring me word what thing it is 
 
 That ? a woman most desire. 
 This shal be thy ransome Arthur, he sayes, 
 
 For He have noe other hier. 
 
 And bring me worde what thing it is, 
 
 "All " women moste desyre ; 
 This "is" thy ransome, Arthur, he sayes, 
 
 He have noe other hyre. 
 
 King Arthur then held up his hand 
 
 According thene as was the law. 
 He tooke his leave of the baron there 
 
 And homword can he draw. 
 
 King Arthur then held up his hande, 
 
 "And sware upon his faye," 
 " Then " tooke his leave of the " grimme barone,' 
 
 And " faste hee rode awaye." 
 
 And when he came to merry Carlile, 
 
 To his chamber he is gone, 
 And ther cam to him his cozen, Sir Gawaine, 
 
 As he did make his mone. 
 
Metrical Romances. 6i 
 
 And there came to him his cozen, Sir Gawaine, 
 
 That was a curteous knight, 
 Why sigh you soe sore unckle Arthur, he said, 
 
 Or who hath done thee unright ? 
 
 peace, O peace, thou gentle Gawaine, 
 That faire may thee befall ; 
 
 For if thou knew my sighing soe deepe. 
 Thou wold not mervaille att all. 
 
 For when I came to Tearne Wadling, 
 
 A bold barren there I fand, 
 With a great club upon his backe 
 
 Standing stiffe and strong. 
 
 And he asked me wether I wold fight, 
 
 Or from him 1 shold be gone, 
 0[r] else I must him a ransome pay, 
 
 And soe depart him from. 
 
 To fight with him I saw noe cause, 
 
 Me thought it was not meet. 
 For he was stiffe and strong with all, 
 
 His strokes were nothing sweete. 
 
 Therfor this is my ransome Gawaine, 
 I ought to him to pay, 
 
 1 must come againe as I am sworne, 
 
 Upon the new yeers day. 
 
 And he rode east, and he rode west, 
 
 And did of all inquyre. 
 What thing it is all women crave. 
 
 And what they most desyre. 
 
 And I rriust bring him word what thing it is 
 [About nine stanzas wanting] . 
 
 Some told him riches, pompe, or state. 
 Some rayment fine and brighte ; 
 
 Some told him mirthe, some flattery e ; 
 And some ajollye knight. 
 
 Then king Arthur drest him for to ryde, 
 
 In one so rich array. 
 Toward the foresaid Tearne Wadling, 
 
 That he might keepe his day. 
 
 In letters all king Arthur wrote. 
 And sealed them with his ringe ; 
 
 But still his mind was helde in doubt, 
 Each told a different thinge. 
 
62 Ancient English 
 
 And as he rode over a more, 
 
 Hee see a lady where shee sate, 
 Betwixt an oke and a greene hollen, 
 
 She was cladd in red Scarlett. 
 
 " As ruthfulle " he rode over a more, 
 
 He " saw " a ladye " sette," 
 "Betweene an oke, and a greene "holleye," 
 
 " All " clad in red scarlette. 
 
 Then there as shold have stood her mouth, 
 
 Then there was sett her eye ; 
 The other was in her forehead fast, 
 
 The way that she might see. 
 
 Her nose was crookt and turnd outward ; 
 
 Her " chin " stood " all " awrye ; 
 " And where " as sholde have " been " her mouthe, 
 
 " Lo " ! there was set her eye. 
 
 Her nose was crooked and turned outward 
 
 Her mouth stood foule awry, 
 A worse formed lady then shee was, 
 
 Never man saw with his eye. 
 
 Her haires, like serpents, clung aboute, 
 
 Her cheekes' of deadlye hewe : 
 A worse-formed lady than she was, 
 
 No man "mote ever viewe." 
 
 To halch upon him, king Arthur, 
 
 The lady was full faine ; 
 But king Arthur had forgott his lesson, 
 
 \Vhat he should say againe. 
 
 To "haile the king in seemelye sorte," 
 
 "This " ladye was fuUe faine ; 
 But king Arthure " at fore amaz'd," 
 
 " No aunswere made " againe. 
 
 What knight art thou, the lady sayd, 
 
 That wilt not speake to me ? 
 Of me thou nothing [be] dismayed 
 
 Tho I be ugly to see. 
 
 What " wight " art thou, the ladye sayd. 
 
 That wilt not speake to mee ; 
 " Sir, I may chance to ease thy paine," 
 
 Though I be " foule " to see. 
 
 For I have halched you courteouslye. 
 
 And you will not me againe, 
 Yett I may happen, sir knight, shee said, 
 
 To ease thee of thy paine. 
 
 Give thou ease me, lady, he said, 
 Or helpe me anything. 
 
Metrical Romances. 63 
 
 Thou shalt have gentle Gawaine, my cozen, 
 And many him with a ring. 
 
 "If" thou (wilt) ease "my paine," he sayd, 
 
 " And " helpe me " in my neede " ; 
 " Ask what " thou wilt, ihott grimme ladyc, 
 
 And it shall be thy meede. 
 
 ^Vhy if I helpe thee not, thou noble king Arthur, 
 
 Of thy owne hearts desiringe, 
 Of gentle Gawaine .... 
 
 [About nine stanzas wanting]. 
 
 O sweare mee this upon the roode, 
 
 And promise on thy f aye ; 
 And here the secrette I will telle, 
 
 That shall thy ransome paye. 
 
 King Arthur promised on his fay e, 
 
 And sware upon the roode ; 
 The secrette then the ladye told, 
 
 As lightlye well she cou'de. 
 
 Now this shall be my paye, -sir king. 
 
 And this my guerdon bee, 
 That some yong, fair, and courtlyc knighte, 
 
 Thou bringe to marrye mee. 
 
 Fast then pricked king Arthiire, 
 
 Ore hille, and dale, and downe ; 
 And soone hefounde the barone's bowre ; 
 
 And soone the grimme barbune. 
 
 And when he came to Teame Wadling 
 The baron there cold he frinde (finde), 
 
 With a great weapon on his backe, 
 Standing stiffe and stronge. 
 
 " He bare his clubbe " upon his backe, 
 " He stood bothe " stiffe and stronge ; 
 
 " Afid when he had the letters reade " 
 Awaye " the lettres flunge." 
 
 And then he tooke king Arthurs letters in his hands, 
 
 And away he cold them fling ; 
 And then he puld out a good browne sword, 
 
 And cryd himself a King. 
 
 And he sayd, 1 have thee and thy land, Arthur, 
 
 To doe as it pleaseth mee ; 
 For this is not thy ransome sure 
 
 Therfore yeeld thee to mee. 
 
 "Nowe yielde" thee, Arthur, and thy "lands," 
 
 " All forfeit upto mee " ; 
 For this is not thy " paye, sir king. 
 
 Nor many thy ransome bee." 
 
64 Ancient English 
 
 And then bespoke him, noble Arthur, 
 
 And bad him hold his hands ; 
 And give me leave to speak my mind 
 
 In defence of all my land. 
 
 "Yet hold thy hand, thou proude barbne," 
 " I pray thee " hold " thy " hand ; 
 
 And give me leave to speak "once moe " 
 In " reskewe " of ray land. 
 
 ' He ' said as I came over a more, 
 
 I see a lady where she Sate, 
 Betweene an oke and a green hollen, 
 
 She was clad in red scarlette. 
 
 " This morne," as I came over a more, 
 
 I "saw " a ladye " sette," 
 Between an oke, and a greene hoUeye, 
 
 " All " clad in red scarlette. 
 
 And she says a woman will have her will, 
 
 And this is all her chief desire, 
 Doe me right as thou art a baron of sckill, 
 
 This is thy ransome and all thy hyer. 
 
 She sayes " all women " will have " their " wille, 
 
 This is " their" chief desyre ; 
 " Now yield," as thou art a barone " true," 
 
 " That I have payd mine hyre." 
 
 He sayes, an early vengence light on her, 
 
 ' She walkes on yonder more. 
 It was my sister that told thee this, 
 She is a mishappen hore. 
 
 An earlye vengeaunce light on her ! 
 
 " The carlish baron swore ; " 
 " Shee " was my sister tolde the this, 
 
 And " shee 's " a mishapen whore. 
 
 But beer He make mine avow to god, 
 
 To do her an evill turne ; 
 For an ever I may thate fowle theefe ge[t]. 
 
 In a fyer I will her burne. 
 
 [About nine stanzas wanting.] 
 
 But here I will make mine avowe. 
 
 To do her " as ill a " turne, 
 For an ever I may that foule theefe gette. 
 
 In a fyre I will her burne. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 Homewarde pricked king Arthuve, 
 
 And a wearye man was he ; 
 And soon he met queene Guenever, 
 
 That bride so bright of blee. 
 
Metrical Romances. 6S 
 
 What newes I what newes t thou noble king, 
 
 Howe, Arthur, hast thou sped ? 
 Where hast thou hung the carlish knighte ? 
 
 And where bestow' d his head ? 
 
 The carlish knight is safe for mee. 
 
 And free fro mortal hamte ; 
 On magicke grounde his castle stands, 
 
 And fenc'd with many a ckarme. 
 
 To bowe to him I was fulle faine, 
 
 Andyielde mee to his hand ; 
 And but for a lothly ladye, there, 
 
 I sholde have lost my land. 
 
 And nowe this fills my hearte with woe. 
 
 And sorrowe of my life ; 
 I swore ayonge and court lye knight 
 
 Sholde marry her to his wife. 
 
 Then bespake him sir Gawaine, 
 
 That was ever a gentle knighte ; 
 That lothly ladye I will wed ; 
 
 Therefore be merrye and lighte. 
 
 Nowe naye, nowe naye, good sir Gawaine ; 
 
 My sisters sonne yee bee ; 
 This lothlye ladye 's all to grimme, 
 
 And all too foule for yee. 
 
 Her nose is crookt and tum'd outwarde ; 
 
 Her chin stands all awrye ; 
 A worse formed ladye than she is. 
 
 Was never seen with eye. 
 
 What though her chin stand all awrye, 
 
 And shee be foule to see, 
 I'll marry her, unkle, for thy sake, 
 And I'll thy ransome bee. 
 
 Nowe thankes, nowe thankes, good sir Gawaine, 
 
 And a blessing thee betyde, 
 Tomorrow wee'll have knights and squires, 
 
 And wee'll go fetch thy bride. 
 
 And wee'll have hawkes and wee'll have houndes. 
 
 To cover our intent ; 
 And wee'll away to the greene forest. 
 
 As wee a hunting went. 
 
 Sir Lancelot and Sir Steven bold, 
 
 They rode with them that day, 
 And the formost of the company 
 
 There rode the steward Kay. 
 
 Sir Lancelot, Sir Stephen bolde. 
 They rode with them that daye ; 
 
 And foremost of the companye. 
 There rode the stewarde Kaye. 
 
 Soe did Sir Banier and Sir Bore, 
 
 Sir Garrett with them soe gay, 
 Soe did Sir Tristeram that gentle knight. 
 
 To the forrest fresh and gay. 
 
66 Ancient English 
 
 Soe did sir Banier and sir Bore 
 "And eke sir Garratte keene " ; 
 
 Sir Tristram " too " that gentle Itnight, 
 To the forest freshe and " greene." 
 
 And when he came to the green forest, 
 
 Underneath a green holly tree, 
 There sate a lady in red scarlett 
 
 That unseemly was to see. 
 
 And when " they " came to the greene forrest 
 Beneathe a " faire " holley tree, 
 
 There sate that ladye in red scarlette, 
 That unseemelye was to see. 
 
 Sir Kay beheld this ladyes face. 
 
 And looked upon her suire ; 
 Whosoever kisses this lady, he sayes, 
 
 Of hiskisse he stands in feare. 
 
 Sir Kay beheld " that " lady's face, 
 
 And looked upon her sweere ; 
 Whoever kisses " that " ladye, he sayes. 
 
 Of his kisse he stands in feere. 
 
 Sir Kay beheld the lady againe, 
 
 And looked upon her snout. 
 Whosoever kisses this lady, he saies, 
 
 Of his kisse he stands in doubt. 
 
 Sir Kay beheld " that " ladye againe. 
 
 And looked upon her snout ; 
 Whoever kisses " that " ladye, he sayes, 
 
 Of his kisse he stands in doubt. 
 
 Peace, cozen Kay, then said Sir Gawaine 
 
 Amend thee of thy life; 
 For there is a knight amongst us all 
 
 That must marry her to his wife. 
 
 Peace, " brother " Kay, sayde Sir Gawaine, 
 
 And amend thee of thy life ; 
 For there is a knight amongst us all. 
 
 Must marjy her to his wife. 
 
 What wedd her to wiffe ! then said Sir Kay, 
 
 In the divells name anon ; 
 Get me a wiffe where-ere I may, 
 
 For I had rather be slaine. 
 
 What " marry this foule queene, quoth " Kay 
 
 I "the devil's " name anone ; 
 Get mee a wife wherever I maye, 
 
 ' In sooth she shall be none." 
 
Metrical Romances. 67 
 
 Then some tooke up their hawkes in haste, 
 And some tooke up their hound s, 
 
 And some sware they wold not marry her, 
 For citty nor for towne. 
 
 Then some took up their hawkes in haste, 
 And some took up their houndes ; 
 
 And " sayd " they wolde not marry her, 
 For cities, nor for townes. 
 
 And then bespake him noble king Arthur, 
 
 And sware there by this day. 
 For a litle foule fight and misliking 
 
 (about nine stanzas wanting). 
 
 Then bespake him king Arthiire, 
 And sware there by this daye ; 
 
 For a little foule fight and mislikinge, 
 Yee shall not say her naye. 
 
 Peace, Lordtngs, peace, Sir Gaivaine sayd ; 
 
 Nor make debate and strife ; 
 This lothlye ladye I will take. 
 
 And marry her to my wife. 
 
 Nowe thankes, nowe thankes, good sir Gawaine, 
 
 And a blessinge be thy meede / 
 For as I am thine owne ladye, 
 
 Thou never shall rue this deede. 
 
 Then up they took that lothly dame, 
 
 And home anone they bringe ; 
 And there Sir Gawaine he her wed. 
 
 And married her with a ringe. 
 
 And when they were in wed-bed laid. 
 
 And all were done awaye ; 
 " Come turn to mee mine owne wed-lord, 
 
 Come turn to mee I praye." 
 
 Sir Gawaine scant could lift his head. 
 
 For sorrowe and for care ; 
 When, lo ! instead of fliat lothelye dame, 
 
 Hee same a young ladye f aire. 
 
 Sweet blushes stayned her rud-red cheeke. 
 
 Her eyen were blacke as sloe ; 
 The ripening cherrye swellde her lippe, 
 
 And all her necke was snowe. 
 
 Sir Gawaine kissed that lady f aire, 
 
 Lying upon the sheete ; 
 And swore, as he was a true knighte. 
 
 The spice was never soe sweete. 
 
 Sir Gawaine kissed that lady brtghi, 
 
 Lying there by his side ; 
 " The fairest flower is not soe f aire ; 
 
 Thou never canst bee my bride.'' 
 
 I am thy bride, mine owne dear lorde, 
 
 The same which thou didst know, 
 That was so lothlye, and was wont 
 Upon the wild more to goe. 
 
68 Ancient English 
 
 Then shee said, choose thee, gentle Gawaine, 
 
 Truth as I doe say, 
 Wether thou wilt have (me) in this likenesse, 
 
 In the night or else in the day. 
 
 " Nowe, gentle Gawaine, chuse, quoth shee," 
 
 " And make thy choice with care " ; 
 Whether " by night, or else by daye," 
 
 " Shall I be foule or faire ? " 
 
 And then bespake him gentle Gawaine, 
 
 With one soe mild of moode, 
 Sayes, well I know what I wold say, 
 
 God grant it may be goode, 
 To have thee fowle [still] in the night. 
 
 When I with thee should playe, 
 Yet I had rather, if I might, 
 
 Have thee fowle in the day. 
 
 To have thee foule (still) in the night. 
 
 When I with thee should playe, 
 " I had rather — farre, my lady deare," 
 
 (To) have the foule ' by ' daye. 
 
 What when lords goe with ther feires, shee said, 
 
 Both to the ale and wine, 
 Alas ! then I must hyde myself, 
 
 I must not go withinne. 
 
 What when "gaye ladyes" goe with their "lordes,'' 
 
 To (drinke) the ale and wine ; 
 Alas ! then I must hide myself, 
 
 I must not go with " mine ? " 
 
 And then bespake him gentle Gawaine, 
 
 Said, Lady thats but a skill, 
 And because thou are my owne lady, 
 
 Thou shalt have all thy will. 
 
 " My fair ladye sir Gawaine sayd," 
 
 " I yield me to thy " skille, 
 Because thou art mine owne ladye, 
 
 Thou shalt have all thy wille. 
 
 Then she said, blessed be thou, gentle Gawaine, 
 
 This day that I thee see, 
 
 For as thou see me att this time, 
 
 From henceforth I wil bee. 
 
 "Now" bless'd be thou, "sweete" Gawaine, 
 
 (And) " the " day that I thee see ; 
 For as thou seest me at this time, 
 
 " Soe shall I ever bee." 
 
 My father was an old knight. 
 
 And yett it chanced soe, 
 That he marryed a younge lady, 
 
 That brought me to this woe. 
 
Metrical Romances. 69 
 
 My father was an " aged " knight, 
 
 And yet it chanced soe, 
 He " tooke to wife " a " false " ladyfe, 
 
 " Whiche " broughte me to this woe. 
 
 Shee witched me, being a faire young lady, 
 
 To the g^eene forrest to dwell, 
 And there I must walke in womans liknesse. 
 
 Most like a feeind of hell. 
 
 Shee witched me, being a faire yonge " maide," 
 " In " the greene forfest to dwelle ; 
 
 And there " to abide " in lothlye shape, 
 Most like a fiend of helle. 
 
 Midst mores and moses ; woods and wilds, 
 
 To leade a lonesome life ; 
 Till some yong faire and courtlye knight 
 
 Wolde marreye me to his wife. 
 
 Nor fully to gains mine owne trewe shape, 
 
 Such was her devilish skille, 
 Until he wolde yielde to be rul'd by mee, 
 
 And let mee have all my wille. 
 
 She witched my brother to a carlish b . . . . 
 [About nine stanzas wanting.] 
 
 She witched ray brother to a "carlish" boore, 
 And made him stiffe and strange ; 
 
 And built him a bowre on magicke grounde, 
 To live by rapine and wronge. 
 
 But now the spelle is broken throughe. 
 
 And wronge is turnde to righte ; 
 Henceforth I shall bee a faire ladye, 
 
 And he be a gentle knighte. 
 
 That looked soe foule and that was wont 
 On the wild more to goe. 
 
 Come kisse her, brother Kay, then said sir Gawaine, 
 
 And amend thee of thy life, 
 I sware this is the same lady 
 
 That I marryed to my wifife. 
 
 Sir Kay kissed that lady bright. 
 
 Standing upon his feete : 
 He swore, as he was trew knight. 
 
 The spice was never soe sweete. 
 
 Well, cozen Gawaine, sales sir Kay, 
 
 Thy chance is fallen arright. 
 For thou hast gotten one of the fairest maids, 
 
 I ever saw with my sight. 
 
70 Ancient English 
 
 It is my fortune, said sir Gawaine, 
 
 For my unckle Arthurs sake : 
 I am as glad as grasse wold be of raine, 
 
 Great joy that I may take. 
 Sir Gawaine tooke the lady by the one arme, 
 
 Sir Kay tooke her by the tother ; 
 They led her straight to King Arthur, 
 
 As they were brother and brother. 
 King Arthur welcomed them there all. 
 
 And soe did lady Genever his queene. 
 With all the knights of the rounde table, 
 
 Most seemly to be seene. 
 King Arthur beheld that lady faire, 
 
 That was soe faire and bright. 
 He thanked Christ in trinity 
 
 For Sir Gawaine that gentle kpight. 
 Soe did the knights, both more or lesse, 
 
 Rejoyced all that day. 
 For the good chance that hapened was 
 
 To sir Gawaine and his lady gay. 
 
 This mode of publishing ancient poetry displays, it must be con- 
 fessed, considerable talent and genius, but savours strongly, at the 
 same time, of unfairness and dishonesty. Here are numerous 
 stanzas inserted wh ich are not in the original, and others omitted 
 which are there. The purchasers and perusers of such a collection 
 are deceived and imposed upon ; the pleasure they receive is derived 
 from the idea of antiquity, which, in fact, is perfect illusion. 
 
 If the ingenious editor had published all his imperfect poems by 
 correcting the blunders of puerility or inattention, and supplying the 
 defects of barbarian ignorance, with proper distinction of type (as, 
 in one instance, he actually has done), it would not only have 
 gratified the austerest antiquary, but also provided refined entertain- 
 ment "for every reader of taste and genius." He would have acted 
 fairly and honorably, and given every sort of reader complete 
 satisfaction. Authenticity would have been united with improve- 
 ment, and all would have gone well ; whereas, in the present editions, 
 it is firmly believed, not one article has been ingeniously or faith- 
 fully printed from the beginning to the end ; nor did the late eminent 
 Thomas Tyrwhitt, so ardent a researcher into ancient poetry, and 
 an intimate friend of the possessor, ever see this curious, though 
 tattered, fragment, nor would the late excellent George Stevens, on 
 the bishop's personal application, consent to sanction the authenticity 
 of the printed copy with his signature.* 
 
 * The Bishop of Dromore (as he now is), on a former occasion, having himself, 
 as he well knows, already falsified and corrupted a modern Scottish song, " This 
 
Metrical Romances. 71 
 
 A change similar to that which is before represented to have 
 taken place in France, took place in England at a somewhat later 
 period. Caxton, our first printer, had so little taste for poetry that 
 he never printed one single metrical romance, nor, in fact, any 
 poetical compositions whatever, beside Gower's Confessio amantis, 
 The Canterbury Tales, and a few other pieces of Chaucer, Lydgate, 
 etc. He translated, indeed, Virgil and Ovid, out of French into 
 English prose, and we are indebted to him, by the like mean, for 
 several venerable black-letter romances in folio or quarto, such as 
 Mort D' Arthur, compiled, it seems, by Sir Thomas Malory ; Charle- 
 magne, Reynard the Fox, and others ; the first of which, though 
 most abominably mangled, became exceedingly popular, and was 
 frequently reprinted ; although no copy of the original edition is now 
 known to exist. Several of the old English metrical romances were, 
 afterward, printed by Wynken de Worde, Pinson, Copland, and 
 others, chiefly in the earlier part of the sixteenth century, many of 
 
 line," he says, " being quoted from memory and given as old Scottish poetry, is 
 (by no one, in such a case, excepf himself) now usually printed " {Reliques, 1775 
 I., xxxviii.*) 
 
 " Come ye frae the border ? " 
 
 to give it a certain appearance of rust and antiquity. This identical song being 
 afterward, faithfully and correctly printed in a certain collection of such things, from 
 the earliest copy known, which, like all the rest, was accurately referred to 
 
 " Live you upo' the border? " 
 
 (Scottish Songs printed for J. Johnson, 1794, i., 266), the worthy prelate thought 
 proper, in the last edition of his already recited compilation, to assert that his own 
 corruption " would have been readily corrected by that copy, had not all confidence 
 been destroyed by its being altered in the Historical Essay, prefixed to that 
 pubUcation to 
 
 " ' Ye Live upo' the border ; ' 
 
 the better," he adds, with his usual candour, " to favour a position, that many of 
 the pipers might live upon the borders, for the conveniency of attending fairs, etc., 
 in both kingdoms." This, however, is an infamous lye; it being much more 
 likely that he himself, who has practised every kind of forgery and imposture, had 
 some such end to alter this identical line, with much more violence, and, as he owns 
 himself, actual " corkuption," to give the quotation an air of antiquity, which it 
 was not entitled to. 
 
 The present editor's text is perfectly accurate, to a single comma, but, " this line," 
 as he pretends to apologise for his own, " being quoted (in the Essay) from memory," 
 having frequently heard it so sung, in his younger days, by a north country black- 
 smith without thinking it necessary, at the moment, to turn to the genuine text, 
 which lay at his elbow, and which his lordship dare not impeach. "Thou 
 hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see 
 (more) clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye " (Gospel according to 
 St. Matthew, chap, vii., verse 5). 
 
 * Scottish poetry, of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, has been so printed, but 
 not that of the eighteenth, unless by impostors. 
 
72 Ancient English 
 
 which are still preserved in public libraries, and a few private 
 collections. 
 
 "When we consider," says Mister Warton, "the feudal manners, 
 and the magnificence 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 these 
 eastern enterprises, we naturally suppose, that their retinue 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 with the stately 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,* yet divested of their original form, polished in their 
 style, adorned with new incidents, successively modernised by 
 repeated transcription and recitation, and retaining little more than 
 the outlines of the original." This, it must be confessed, is not only a 
 just and accurate, but also a beautiful and interesting description of 
 the old English romances. Many, however, in the French language 
 still remain, correct and perfect as they came from the hands of the 
 poet or minstrel, and presen'ed in contemporary manuscripts, more 
 or less, in most of the public libraries in Europe, being likewise 
 infinitely superior, in point of style and expression, to their transla- 
 tions into English ; of the comparative merit whereof it is highly 
 probable our learned historian had a very imperfect idea. 
 
 It is no slight honour to ancient romance that so late as the 
 seventeenth century, when it was become superannuated and obsolete, 
 the expansive and enlightened mind of our British Homer was 
 enraptured with the study, as is manifested by frequent and happy 
 allusions in his two principal poems : 
 
 " and what redounds 
 
 In fable or romance of Uther's son. 
 Begirt with British and Armoric knights. 
 And all who since, baptised or infidel. 
 Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, 
 Daraasco, or Marocco, or Tiebisond, 
 Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore. 
 When Charlemain with all his peerage fell, 
 By Fontarabbia."t 
 
 * But many more in the French, some of which were actually written in 
 England. 
 
 \ P.L.B.,\.,\., 579. ' ' Next," he says, " I betook me among those lofty fables 
 and romances which recount in solemn cantos the deeds of knighthood. ... So 
 that even those books .... proved to me so many inticements to the love and 
 Steadfast observation of . . . , virtue, , . ," 
 
 See Toland's Liff, p. 35. 
 
Metrical Romances. 73 
 
 (" Though like a covered field, where champions bold 
 Wont ride in arm ed, and at the soldans chair 
 Defied the best of Panim chivalry 
 To mortal combat or career with lance.")* 
 " Such forces met not, no so wide a camp, 
 When Agrican, with all his northern powers 
 Besieged Albracca, as romances tell, 
 The city of Gallaphrone, from thence to win, 
 The fairest of her sex, Angelica, 
 His daughter, sought by many prowest knights, 
 Both Pa3fnim, and the peers of Charlemane : 
 Such and so numerous was thir chivalrie." t 
 
 He had even meditated a metrical romance, or epic poem, upon 
 the story of Arthur, which would, doubtless, have excelled in sub- 
 limity and interest everything he has left us, had not his increasing 
 attachment to the puritanical superstition of the times perverted his 
 intention. 
 
 " Since first this subject for heroic song 
 
 Pleased me long choosing, and beginning late, 
 
 Not sedulous by nature to indite 
 
 Warrs, hitherto the only argument 
 
 Heroic deemed chief maistrie to dissect, 
 
 With long and tedious havoc, fabled knights 
 
 In battels feigned ; — 
 
 Or tilting fumature, emblazoned shields, 
 
 Impreses quaint, caparisons and steeds ; 
 
 Bases and tinsel trappings, gorgeous knights 
 
 At joust and toumeament, then marshaled feast. 
 
 Served up in hall with sewers, and seneshals," % 
 
 Notwithstanding his religious enthusiasm, he still appears to 
 regard the favourite pursuits of his earlier days with a kind of 
 melancholy sensation : 
 
 And casts a long and lingering look behind. 
 
 To the above design he himself alludes in his E;pita^hiufn 
 Damonis, v., 161, etc. 
 
 "Ipse ego Dardanias Rutufina per cBquora fuppes 
 Dicam, et Pandrasidos regnum vetus Inogenice, 
 Brennumque Arviragumque duces, priscumque Belinum, 
 Et tandem Armor icos Britonum sub lege colonos ; 
 Turn gravidam Arturo, fatali fraude, logernen, 
 Mendaces vultus assumptaque Gorlois arma, 
 Merlini dolus. ' ' 
 
 * Ibid., v., 762. 
 
 t Paradise Regained, Bk. 3, v. , 336. See the Orlando inamoraU of Boiardo. 
 
 \ P. L. B., 3 (edition 1667) ;^see Toland's Life. pp. 16, 17. 
 
74 Ancient English 
 
 So that, it seems, the fabulous history of Geoffrey of Monmouth 
 was to have been the platform of his sublime poetical structure ; but 
 this project, whether wisely or not, he abandoned. Pope likewise 
 had an intention of writing a poem on the subject oi Brutus.* 
 
 § 4.— Minstrels and Minstrelsy. 
 
 Homer, who, as it hath been already observed, composed romances 
 in Greek verse, was a rhapsodist bard or minstrel, who resorted to 
 feasts, at which he sung his compositions to the lyre. He says of 
 himself, in one of his hymns : " Hail, heavenly powers, whose praises 
 I sing ; let me also hope to be remembered in the ages to come, 
 and when any one, born of the tribe of men, comes hither, a weary 
 traveller, and inquires, Who is the sweetest of singing men that 
 resort to your feasts, and whom you most delight to hear ? then 
 do you make answer for me : It is the blind man that dwels in 
 Chios ; his songs excell all that can ever be sung." t 
 
 An anecdote, communicated to Herodotus by the Lesbians, 
 savours, likewise, very strongly of the minstrel character. Arion of 
 Methymna (near three hundred years after Homer), who was second 
 to none of the harpers of his age, and made, and named, and taught, 
 the dithyrambick at Corinth, having desired to sail into Italy and 
 Sicily, and wishing, much money being acquired, to return back to 
 Corinth ; and whereas he was about to go to Tarentum, because he 
 trusted none more than the Corinthians, hired a ship of some of those 
 men. When, therefore, they were out at sea, these conspired against 
 Arion, that, he being got rid of, they might enjoy his money. He, 
 understanding this, prayed, the money being offered to them, that 
 his life might be spared. Not prevailing upon the mariners, they 
 ordered that he should either lay violent hands upon himself, that so 
 he might obtain sepulture upon the shore, or, immediately, leap into 
 the sea. Arion, at this difficulty, besought that forasmuch as such 
 was their pleasure, they would suffer him to sing, standing upon the 
 deck ; and when he should have sung, he promised that he would 
 lay violent hands upon himself. These, therefore (for the desire of 
 hearing the most excellent performer had seized them), retired from 
 
 * See his Life, by Ruff head, 
 
 t Blackwell's Enquiry into the Life of Homer, p. no. Huet to the same 
 purpose observes, " It is necessary to remark, for the honour of the troubadours, 
 that Homer has been one before them, and that he went about reciting his verses 
 from town to town" (De I'origine des romans, Paris, 1678, p. 128). Dr. Bentley 
 says, ' ' He wrote a sequel of songs and rhapsodies, to be sung by himself, for small 
 earnings and good cheer, at festivals and other days of merriment ; the llias he 
 made for the men, and the Odysseis for the other sex. These loose songs were not 
 collected together in the form of an epic poem till Pisistratus's time, about five 
 hundred years after " {Remarks 2ipon a late Discourse of Free- Thinking, p. 18). This 
 ancient bard, as it is supposed by some learned men, could neither write nor read, 
 
Metrical Romances. 75 
 
 the poop to the midst of the ship. He, being- dressed with every 
 ornament, and the harp taken up, standing- upon the deck, awaked 
 the song which is called Orthian ; and that being sung, he cast 
 himself, as he was with all his finery, into the sea ; and these, truly, 
 held their course for Corinth ; but he, received, they say, by a dolphin, 
 was carried to Taenarus ; and, when he had descended from the 
 dolphin, he went in that same habit to Corinth, and when he arrived 
 there he related everything that had happened. These things the 
 Corinthians and Lesbians were wont to say ; and there was extant at' 
 Taenarus the moderate gift of Arion, in brass, a man above, carried 
 by a dolphin.* 
 
 It is highly probable, as Huet has remarked, that other illustrious 
 poets of Greece imitated Homer ; he particularly mentions Simonides, 
 who, he e.xpressly says, exercised the profession of a trouveur and 
 chanieur.'^ 
 
 The histriones of the Romans were theatrical performers, who 
 delivered the oral parts ; the mitni dumb actors, who expressed 
 everything by dancing and gestures ; neither of these, of course, bore 
 the least resemblance to a minstrel ; except that it has been sug- 
 gested by mister Ledwich to doctor Percy upon a reference of 
 Salmasius (Notes to Historice augustcB scrt-ptores, Paris, 1620, 
 fo. p. 385) ; whence the latter infers that the imitative minstrel 
 of Geoffrey of Monmouth shaved himself by classical authority. J 
 
 Both names, however, seem, after the decline of the empire, to have 
 been, erroneously, conferred upon the minstrels or musical per- 
 formers of those times. Since at least the mimes, or jugglers, arc 
 allowed, by the laws of James II., King of Majorca, to be lawfully 
 admissible in courts, as their office affords pleasure ; wherefor that 
 prince ordains, that in his palace the number of m.iines should be 
 five, of whom two were to be trum.peters , and the third, a taboitrer ; 
 so that the minstrel who made use of the phrase " Mimia et cantu 
 victum acquire" must, necessarily, have intended two distinct 
 functions. § 
 
 Whether the Lombards brought the minstrel arts into Italy, or 
 acquired them from the old inhabitants, is a question of difficult 
 solution : but, in the year 774, it happened \h3l & jocuiaior, ox juggler, 
 came to Charles the emperour, usually called Charlemagne, and. 
 
 * Clio., § 24. 
 
 f Dc torigine, etc., as before. 
 
 } Dio, indeed, in the time of Nero, says, that " It was most filthy and grievous 
 to see, that men and women, not only of the equestrian, but, even, of the senatorial 
 order, entered into the orchestra, and circus, and amphitheatre, hke the vilest men ; 
 and some of them sung to pipes, danced, acted tragedies and comedies, sung to 
 the harp, etc. Even Nero himself, frequently at the voice of the common crier, m 
 the habit of a harper, sung to the harp. (Refer to the article Citharoedos in the 
 index to Reimar's edition). 
 
 § Reliques, etc., I, Ixxiv. 
 
76 Ancient English 
 
 turning round in the sight of his followers, sung a song composed 
 by himself.* 
 
 Philip Mouskes, in the time of Philip the august, feigns this em- 
 perour to have formerly given, to his parasites and mimes or 
 mimicks [scurris et miniis suis), the county of Provence ; whence, 
 afterward, so great a number of poets g^ew up in this country : 
 
 " Quar quant li buen rois Karlemaigne 
 Ot toute mise, d son demaine, 
 Provence, qui mult iert flentive, 
 De vins, de bois, d'aigue, de rive, 
 As laceours, as menestreus. 
 Qui sont au ques luxurieus 
 Le donna toute & de^arta."\ 
 
 The anecdote, at the same time, seems to require more ancient 
 testimony than that of Philip Mouskes. 
 
 Sainte-Palaye is of opinion that chivalry, considered merely as a 
 ceremony by which young persons, destined to the military profes- 
 sion, received the first arms they were to carry, was known from the 
 time of Charlemagne : but that, regarded as a dignity which gave 
 the first rank in the military order, and which was conferred by a 
 species of investiture, accompanied by certain ceremonies, and 
 a solemn oath, it would be difficult to carry it higher than the 
 eleventh century.^ 
 
 Henry I. however, emperour of Germany, surnamed The fowler, 
 appears to have established tournaments in 930.§ There is likewise 
 an instance of a just or single combat, on horseback, at Paris, in 978, 
 between Grey-coat, Earl of Anjou, and Bertold, brother to the Duke 
 of Saxony .|| Chivalry and minstrelsy, it is generally thought, had 
 some sort of connection, and, possibly, a coStaneous origin ; but 
 little or nothing is known for a certainty respecting the latter, till 
 about a century after the establishment of the former. According to 
 a contemporary historian, Henry HI., surnamed The Black, or 
 Blackbeard, emperour of Germany, celebrating his nuptials with 
 Agnes, daughter of William earl of Poictou, at the town of Ingelen- 
 heim, in 1043, permitted an infinite multitude of minstrels and 
 jugglers, to the accumulation of his praise, empty and hungry, without 
 food and rewards, to depart sorrowing.1[ 
 
 * Muratori, Antiquitates Italia, ii., 2. 
 
 t Du Cange, " Ministrellus et Lecator." 
 
 J Memoires sur Tancienne chevalerie, i., 6sr 
 
 ^ See his Leges Hasti Indiales, sive de tomeamentis in GoldasH Imperatorum 
 recessus, Hanovice, 1609, fo. II., 41. 
 
 II R. de Diceto, 459. 
 
 T Hermanni Contracti chronicon. Basilese 1529, fo. 218, b, John Bromto, 
 abbot of Jervaux, says, that the money which he had been before accustomed to 
 give to the minstrels, he distributed to the poor : but this was robbing Peter to pay 
 Paul. 
 
Metrical Romances. 'j'j 
 
 "The minstrels," as defined by the ingenious and respectable 
 author of an essay on the ancient English ones prefixed to Reliques 
 of Ancient English Poetry, were an order of men in the middle 
 ages, who united the arts of poetry and music, and sung verses to 
 the harp of their own composing. They also appear to have accom- 
 panied their songs, he says, "with mimicry and action ; and to have 
 practised such various means of diverting as were much admired in 
 those rude times, and supplied the want of more refined entertain- 
 ments." Thus stood the passage in the first, second, and third 
 editions ; but the learned author not having brought any proof that 
 these characters composed their own songs, and still less that the 
 singers themselves used mimicry and action, it appears in the last 
 edition, thus altered, "who subsisted by the arts of poetry and music, 
 and sang to the harp verses composed by themselves or others." 
 But that those minstrels, who sung to the harp, " accompanied their 
 songs with mimicry and action," still appears to stand in need of 
 authority. 
 
 Maistre Wace, in his account of the coronation feast of King 
 Arthur, is careful to enumerate the various orders of minstrelsy, 
 which he supposes to have been present on that occasion : — 
 
 "Mult ost d. la cor/ jugleors 
 Chanteors, e/rumenteors. 
 M.-a\t ^oissez oir chan9ons, 
 Rotuenges et voialx sons, 
 Vileors, lais, et notex, 
 Laiz de vieles, lais de rotez, 
 Laiz de harpez, laiz de fietalx, 
 Lires, tempes, et chalemealx 
 Symphoniez, psalterious, 
 Monacors, des cymbes, chorous, 
 Assez i ot tregetours, 
 Joieresses, ^/joieors, 
 Zi uns disoent contes et fables, etc."* 
 
 The manners of a company of minstrels are thus described in an 
 o\A fabliau, probably of the thirteenth century : 
 
 " Li quens manda les menestrels ; 
 Et si afet crier entre els. 
 Qui la meillor truffe sauroit 
 Dire, nefaire, qu'ilauroit 
 
 * '• . . . Many >^/crj had they at the court, singers, and rimers; ma.ny songs 
 might you hear, Rote-songs (see Fabliaux ou contes, B, 323), and vocal songs, 
 fiddlers, lays znA notes; Lays ior fiddles, lays for rotes, lays for harpes, lays for 
 sytols; lyres, and corn-pipes; symphonies, psalteries, monochords, cymbals, choirs. 
 Enow' there were of tregetours, female and male performers (joueurs, F.). Some 
 said tales and fables, etc." 
 
yS Ancient English 
 
 Sa robe d' escarlate nuove. 
 
 Duns menestrels a V autre reuve 
 
 Fere son mestier tel qu' il sot, 
 
 Li unsfet I'yvre, V autre sot, 
 
 Li uns chante, li autre note, 
 
 Et li autres dit la riote ; 
 
 Et li autres la jenglerie ; 
 
 Cil qui sevent de ^ jouglerie ' 
 
 Vielent jbar devant le conte ; 
 
 Aucuns ja quifabliaus conte ; 
 
 // i ot dit mainte risee, etc . " * 
 In another extract from a romance, written in 1230, we are told 
 that: 
 
 " Quand les tables ostees furent 
 
 Cil juggleurs in pies esturent 
 
 S'ont vielles, et harpes ;prisees, 
 
 Chansons, sons, vers, et reprises, 
 
 Et gestes chante nos ont."j; 
 The minstrels certainly were not always an order of men "who 
 united the arts of poetry and music and sung verses to the harp of 
 their own composing," as the worthy divine who formerly made that 
 assertion has been compelled to acknowledge. 
 
 At the nuptials of Robert, brother to St. Lewis, in 1237, "those 
 who are called minstrels," according to Alberic, " in this spectacle 
 of vanity did many things there ; as he who on a horse rode upon a 
 rope in the air ; and as those who rode two oxen clad in scarlet, 
 blowing their horns at the several messes which were served up to 
 the king at table. J 
 
 In the ancient Roman de Berthe au grand pied, written by King 
 Adends, a well-known poet, so-called, in the thirteenth century, it is 
 related that during the grand feast given by Pepin on his marriage 
 there was executed a magnificent concert composed by three min- 
 strels, of whom one played upon the vielle (or fiddle), another upon 
 the harp, and the third upon the lute.% 
 
 * FalUaux et co'nUs, ii. , 161. " The count commanded the minstrels, and so he 
 has caused to be cried among them, that he who should say or do the best gibe 
 should have his new scarlet robe. Some of the minstrels prayed another to do his 
 business such as he knew. Some sung, others noted, and others had recourse to 
 scolding, and others to raillery ; those who knew juglery fiddled before the count 
 Some they were ioMfabliaus. There was said many a laughable thing." 
 
 t " When the tables were taken away, the juglers stood up on their feet, so have 
 they taken viohns and harps, and we had songs, tunes, verses, and reprises, and 
 gests sung." 
 
 % '• Itli qni diciintur ministetti [l. ministrelli) in spectaculo ■vaniiatis imilta iti 
 feceruni, siciit ilk qui in equo super cordam in aere equitatat, et sicut illi qui 
 duos boves de scarlate vestitos equiialant cornitanies ad singula fercula quae apfone- 
 bantur regi in hiensa." — Chro., p. 362 ; Memoires sur I'ancienne chevalerie, i., 
 24s. I. 
 
 ^ Bih. dcs Romans Avril, 1777, p. 147. 
 
Metrical Romances. 79 
 
 It is certain that many persons in France bore the title of ^^ Roy de 
 ministraux" instances whereof are given by Du Cange ; but, in 
 England, though Anstis has mentioned several minstrels who are 
 distinguished by the title of king (as Rex Robertus ministrallus, 
 etc. in the time of King Edward I.), none of them is expressly called 
 rex ministrallorumor ICmgof the minstrels (except John Caumz, 
 king of Richard II. 's, in 1387); neither does his Rex juglatorum 
 belong to this country. Aden6s, a celebrated poet, who lived in the 
 thirteenth century, says of himself, in one of his romances : 
 " Ce livre de Cleomades 
 
 Rimeje le roy Adenez, 
 
 Menestre au bon due Henry :" 
 
 meaning, it seems, Henry Duke of Brabant, who died in 1247. He 
 elsewhere calls himself Roy Adenes and is so called by others ; but 
 still the reason is unknown. Pasquier is quite at a loss to account 
 for the word king as applied to a minstrel ; remarking only that 
 the v^otA. jouingleur [jouglerie) had, by succession of time, turned 
 into slight- of- hand. " We have seen," he says, " in our youth the 
 jouingleurs meet at a certain day every year, in the town of Chauny 
 in Picardy, to shew their profession before the people, who could do 
 best ; and this," adds he, " that I here say of them is not to depre- 
 ciate these ancient rimers, but to shew that there is nothing so 
 beauteous which is not annihilated with time : "* where, by the way, 
 he seems, by the expression " anciens rimeurs,^' to allude rather to 
 what they had formerly been, than to what they were in his own time, 
 when, as he has already told us, they were sunk into raeze jugglers. 
 
 That the different professors of minstrelsy were, in ancient times, 
 distinguished by names appropriated to their respective pursuits, 
 cannot reasonably be disputed, though it may be difficult to prove. 
 
 The trouveur, trouverre, or rymour, was he who composed 
 romans, contes, fabliaux, chansons, a.ndlais; and those who confined 
 themselves to the composition of contes zxiA fabliaux , obtained the 
 appellation of conteurs, conteours, or fabliers. The menetrier, 
 menestrel, or minstrel, was he who accompanied his song by a 
 musical instrument, both the words and the melody being occasion- 
 ally furnished by himself, and occasionally by others, t Thejogelour, 
 jougleor,\ jugleor, jogelere, or jugler, amused the spectators with 
 slight-of-hand tricks, cups and balls, etc. 
 
 • Recherches, etc., Paris, 1633, fo. p. 611. 
 
 t Le Grand distinguishes tJie menestrier who played and sung from the menestrel 
 who was the chief or head of the troop ; but without being able to adduce any 
 authority for proving such a distinction. 
 
 % ^ot jongleur, as the ignorant or inattentive French printers of the fifteenth 
 century, who could not, it is probable, read the manuscripts, and mistook the u for 
 an K, there being, in fact, little or no distinction between them, uniformly ortho- 
 graphised it ; and as every French author, historian commentator, etymologist, 
 glossarist, or dictionary-maker, with the whole herd of copyists and printers, from 
 
8o Ancient English 
 
 Again, in The Frere's Tale, v. 7049 : 
 
 " Klousy j'ogelour can deceiven thee." 
 
 Tliis appears clear from the conduct of John de Raumpayne, who, 
 when he sets out to deceive Moris of Whitington, takes with him a 
 male, which contains his jugleries, and out of which, most likely, he 
 had already so blackened, inflated, and deformed his visage, that 
 his most intimate acquaintance did not know him. The chanteour, 
 or chanterre, was one who sang ; the vielere or harfere, he who 
 accompanied the chanterre, when he did not perform himself, and 
 would be called indifferently by either name, or the general one of 
 minstrel, etc. A histrio, or mimus, should properly have been the 
 buffoon of a play, as he was among the Romans ; but these names, 
 in fact, appear to have been given by affected pedants, who mistook 
 their meaning. There were, likewise, Jlutours, timbesteres, and 
 sailours, dancers, all three mentioned by Chaucer in his translation 
 of Rontani of the Rose, v. 762, etc. 
 
 " There mightist thou se \hese Jlutours, 
 
 Minstrallis and sk&j'ogelours. 
 
 That well to singin did ther paine — 
 
 There was many a timbestere, 
 
 And sailours, that i dare well swere, 
 
 Ycothe ther craft full parfitly 
 
 The timbris up full subtilly 
 
 Thei castin, and hent them full oft 
 
 Upon a finger faire and soft. ' ' 
 
 that time to the present, have constantly written, printed, etymologised and explained 
 it. In every manuscript, however, French or Norman, of the thirteenth or four- 
 teenth century, or, at least, wherever the a occurs, and can be distinguished from 
 an n, it is uniformly written jougleour, or jougkor (Roman de Troye, Harley MS. 
 4482), but generally without a u joglere [Roman de Fiiz-Guarine, in the king's MS. 
 12, c. xii.), and frequently without an o, as jugleour (Harley MS. 22$^), jugelere (Le 
 Brut, passim). Many hundred of such instances could have been easily added, but 
 the scrupulous reader had better consult the originals. The same propriety was 
 observed in England, where the corrupt orthography, jongler, has never been 
 made use of, either in manuscript or print, till within these few years, and pro- 
 bably for the first time in the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. Thus in Davies' 
 Lyf of A ly Sander : 
 
 " The minstrelles synge, \.\ie. jogelours oa-vp^y 
 Again in Robert Mannyngs translation from Peter of Bridlington. 
 " Jogelours were there inouh." 
 
 But though he names both, he does not give them several employments. Carp- 
 ing seems synonymous to singing ; though it is said above — 
 
 " The minstrels sing, X\ie jogelours carpe;' 
 and may, therefore, imply talking or reciting. 
 
 Again in Chaucer's Romant of the Rose, v. 764 — 
 
 ' ' Ministrallis and eke jogelours.' 
 All evidently and immediately from the hatin joculator. He is however, in other 
 places, repeatedly called Ajogelor. Carpentier, says Warton, mentions a joculator 
 gut scieiat torn bare , ajuglerviho knew how to tumble (I.G). 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 Th& farceurs, orbuifoons, were, 'possibly, the ^xo-^et histriones or 
 mimi, who acted ridiculous and burlesque dramas of a single part, 
 whence the X^xm. farce is still used for a short and laughable enter- 
 tainment; haladins or dancers ; tabourers, or tahereres, who per- 
 formed on the tabour or tabourine :*and, peradventure, several other 
 distinctions. All these, however, in process of time, appear to have 
 been confounded under the common name of minstrels or juglers, and 
 by Latin writers, ministri, ministrelU, joculatores, histriones, 
 mitm, leccatores, scurrce, vaniloqici, citharistce or citharcedce, can- 
 tores, or cantatores, ^arasitcB,famelici, nebulones, ej>ulones, and 
 the like. 
 
 Their peculiar appellations, however, may doubtless have been 
 preserved among themselves, without being much attended to by 
 those who only considered them as a body of men whose profession 
 was to please ; or, at least, by their own corruption in later times, 
 when one did all-, and the whole system sunk into insignificance and 
 contempt. 
 
 "Sometimes," says Fontenelle, "during the repast of a prince, 
 you would see arrive an unknown trouverre, with his minstrels or 
 juglers, and make them sing, upon their harps or violins, the verses 
 which he had composed ; those who made the sounds as well as the 
 words, being the most esteemed, "f 
 
 Le Grand having already spoken of these troops of rambling 
 musicians, who in the great feasts, in the plenary courts, and at 
 marriages ran together to amuse the nobility, says, " This profession, 
 which misery, libertinism, and the vagabond life of this sort of 
 people, have much decried, required, however, a multiplicity of 
 attainments and of talents, which one would, at this day, have some 
 difficulty to find reunited, and who has much more right to be 
 astonished, moreover, in the ages of ignorance : for beside all the 
 songs, old and new, beside the current anecdotes, the tales, and 
 fabliaux, which they piqued themselves upon knowing ; beside the 
 romances of the time, which it behoved them to know, and to possess 
 in part, they could declaim, sing, compose in music, play on several 
 instruments and accompany them. Frequently, even, were they 
 authors, and made themselves the pieces which they uttered. 
 
 * In an o\A fabliau, in the Harleian MS. 2253, ^ minstrel setting out from London 
 and meeting the king, 
 
 * ' Entoitr son col porta soun tabour 
 Depeynt de ore riche acour" 
 
 The king, who addresses him with "sire joglour,' is treated with very little 
 ceremony. Fauchet remembered to have seen Martin Baraton (then old minstrel of 
 Orleans), who at feasts and nuptials beat a. tabour (tahourin) of silver, set with 
 plates, also of silver, graven with the armorial bearings of those whom he had 
 taught to dance (Recueil, p. 73). " Here," observes doctor Percy, " we see that a 
 minstrel performed sometimes the function of a dancing-master " (p. xlviii). 
 
 t Histoirc du theatre. 
 
 b 
 
Ancient English 
 
 " In fine, there were some who, to all these talents, joined the 
 science of the cork-balls, of juglery, and of all the tricks known." * 
 
 The following curious narrative of these singular characters is 
 related in an oXA. fabliau : " Two troops of minstrels met in a castle, 
 and willed to amuse the lord by a quarrel. One said he could tell 
 tales (confer) in Romance {i.e., French), and Latin. He knew 
 more than forty lays and songs oi gests, and all the songs you could 
 possibly ask for. He knew, also, the romances of adventure, and in 
 particular those of the round table. He knew, in fact, how to SING 
 a great many romances, such as Vivien, Reynaud (r Oger), le 
 Danois, etc., and to Tell Floris and Blanchejlower. He finished 
 the enumeration of his talents by some pleasantries ; and pretended 
 that if he had taken to the profession he followed, it was not that he 
 had not many others to procure him a considerable fortune ; for 
 he knew very well how to hoop an e.g^, to bleed cats, to cup an ox, 
 and cover houses with omelettes, etc., and if anyone would give him 
 two harps, he felt himself capable of producing music such as no one 
 ever heard the like. At length, after some new insults, he advised 
 the minstrel whom he had attacked to go out of the castle without 
 further trouble : despising him too much to dishonour himself and 
 his comrades by striking a man so contemptible. This fellow 
 undervalued him in his turn, and demanded of him how he dared to 
 say he was a good minstrel who knew neither pleasant tales nor 
 dits. As for me, said he, I am not one of these ignoramuses whose 
 whole talent is to play the cat, the fool, the drunken man, or to say 
 foolish things to their comrades ; I am of the number of these good 
 trouverres, who invent all that they say : 
 
 " Ge j«zj juglere de viele ; 
 Si sai de muse et de frestele, 
 Et de harpe, et de chiphonie 
 De la gique, de I'armonie, 
 E el salteire, e en la rote."t 
 
 I know how to sing a song ; I know tales, I know fabliaux, I 
 know how to tell fine new dits, rotruenges\ old and new, and 
 sirvantes and pastorals; I know how to counsel love, and to 
 make chaplets of flowers ; and a girdle for lovers ; and to speak 
 courteously." After this detail of his talents, as the musician 
 
 •A., 47. 
 
 t " I am a player of the violin, 
 
 So know I the bagpipe, and thefresMe 
 And the harp, and the symphony, 
 Th&gig, the harmony. 
 And the psai/ery and the rote." 
 The translation of the whole passage was so absurdly faulty, X ave been com- 
 pelled to alter it considerably. — E. G. 
 I A species of song sung to the rote. 
 
Metrical Romances. 83 
 
 and fine fellow, he passes to those which he has for the tricks of 
 dexterity, and the play of cork-ball {a song) ; ' ' Well know I the cork- 
 ball ; and to make the beetle come alive and dancing on the table ; 
 and so I know many a fair table game the result of dexterity and 
 magic ; well I know how to make an enchantment ; I know how to play 
 with the cudgels ; and so I know how to play with the cutlasses ; and 
 with the cord, and the rope." He boasts himself to know all Me 
 songs of gests which the first knew ; he knows all the good Serjeants, 
 and renowned champions of his time ; and the most celebrated 
 minstrels, to whom he gives ridiculous nick-names. In fine, ad- 
 dressing himself to his rival, he advises him, if he have a little shame, 
 never to enter into the places where he shall know him : " And you, 
 sir," says he, " if I have spoken better than he, I pray you to put 
 him out of doors, and thus prove to him that he is a sot." * 
 
 The musical instruments of the French minstrels were chiefly the 
 viele.t the clavicorde, the rote,X the tabour, and others, it is pro- 
 bable, not only to accompany the voice, but to perform sprightly airs, 
 and exhilarate the lively dance. 
 
 None of the minstrel melodies, or chants, are supposed to be now 
 existing, unless, it is possible, in some ancient manuscript of the 
 French National Library. Sainte Palaye, in fact, says that the 
 beautiful tale oi Aucassin and Nicolette occurs in a MS. near five 
 hundred years old, and that what was preceded by the words " on 
 chante," was set to music, but whether the poetical part be in the 
 minstrel-metre does not clearly appear. The Chansons du chatelain 
 de Coucy, in 1200, likewise Du roy de Navarre, have been printed 
 with the original music. It is a plain chant, in square notes, ranged 
 upon four lines, under the clef C. sol ut {Fabliaux ou contes, A. 48).§ 
 Some idea of the dress or manners of a French minstrel in the 
 fourteenth century may be conceived from the following anecdote : 
 " A yonge man cam to a feste, where were many lordes, ladyes, and 
 damoysels, and arrayed as they wold have sette them to dyner, and 
 had on hem a coote hardye after the manner of Almayne. He cam 
 and salewed the lordes and ladyes, and whan he had done to them 
 reverence, syre Geffroy (de Lyege) called hym before hym, and 
 demanded hym where his vyell or clavycordes were, and that he 
 should make his craft : and the yonge man answered, Syre, I cannot 
 
 * Le Grand, B., 313, etc. Those who, in the north of England, cheat the poor 
 ignorant graziers, farmers, and horse-cosers, who come to the fair, by the delusion 
 of the cork-ball, are called thimblers. 
 
 t Doctors Percy and Burney mistake this for the rote or mandolin (Rehques, I. , 
 Ixxv) ; but that it was clearly the vhlin is proved by M. Le Grand (Fabhaux ou 
 conies, A. 49 ; B. 319). Fauchet writes it " viole. " -^ ,. , 
 
 t The rote, from rota, a wheel, in modern French vtelle. and m vulgar English 
 hurdy-gurdy, which is seen so frequently both in Paris and London in the hands 
 of Savoyards. 
 
 § I presume Ritson means the clef of C.— E. G. 
 
84 Ancient English 
 
 medle therwith. Haa, said the knyght, I cannot byleve it ; for ye 
 be contrafaytted and clothed lyke a mynysirell." * 
 
 "Helgaud, the lord of Joinville, and other authors, remark," 
 according to Du Cange, "that at these solemn feasts were made 
 public banquets where the kings eat in the presence of their whole 
 suite, and were there ser\'ed by the great officers of the crown, and of 
 the Hotel, t every one according to the function of his charge. There 
 was with them the divertisements of the minstrels {" des menestrels 
 ou des menetriers "). Under this name were comprised those who 
 played with the nakairs, with the denticanon, with the cornet, with 
 guiterne Latine, with "Cix^fluste Behaigne, with the trompette, with 
 the guiterne Moresche, and with the vieille ; which are all named 
 in an account of the hotel of the duke of Normandy and Guienne of 
 the year 1348." A curious species of concert, no doubt ; though 
 there be not a single minstrel of them who "sings" to the harp 
 songs of his own making. "They had, moreover," he says, "far- 
 ceurs, jongleurs (r^c/'?'«JJougleurs) [j'oculatores), sxiA. plaisantins, 
 who should divert the companys by their jokes and their comedys, 
 for the entertainment of whom the kings, the princes, and the simple 
 Lords, made such prodigous expences, that they gave occasion to 
 Lambert d' Ardres, and to the cardinal James de Vitry, to inveigh 
 against these superfluities of their time, which had ruined whole 
 families : which St. Augustine had done before them, in these terms : 
 " Donare res suas histrionibus, vitium est immane, non virtus. 
 Ilia sanies Romce rece^ta, et favoribus aucta, tandem collabefecit 
 bonos mores, et civitates jierdidit, coegitque imperatores saej>itis 
 eos expellere."X 
 
 With respect to the melody, or intonation, to which the French 
 metrical romances were usually sung, being accompanied by some 
 musical instrument, either in the hands of the singer, or in those of 
 his companion, it is conjectured to have been little or nothing else 
 than a sort of recitative, or chant, the performer sustaining his voice, 
 
 • The booke of thenseynementes and techynge that the knights of the towre made to 
 his doughters (translated and printed by Caxton), c, 115. 
 
 t This useful dissyllable, hostel, we obtained from the French soon after the 
 Norman conquest ; and it remains with its old anghcised pronunciation, hostel, 
 in the University of Cambridge to this day, but having become obsolete, for some 
 centuries, in every other place it has lately returned to us a, la mode de la France 
 moderne, and is written and pronounced hStel. 
 
 % Dissertation v. sitr Joinville, 161. Warton, who professes to give this very 
 passage, and cites this very page, instead of 1348, says " before the year 1300." 
 The nakair he explains "the kettledrum" and the demi-canon " the flagellet " ; 
 for what reason does not appear. Nacalres is explained by Du Cange [Observations 
 sur Ihistoire, 59) to mean a kind of tambour, which is in use among the German 
 cavalry, which the French call, vulgarly, tymbales. There was some essential 
 difference, it may be fairly presumed, between the histrioncs of King Philip de 
 V.alois' time and those of St. Augustine. John of Salisbury reprobates those of 
 his own age who, for the redeeming their fame, and extending their name, threw 
 away their riches on " histrioncs et mimos" {Kith.^y). 
 
Metrical Romances. 85 
 
 as the ingenious mister Walker has expressed it, " with arpeggios 
 swept over the strings of his harp." * 
 
 Almost all the French poets of the twelfth and thirteenth century, 
 according to M. Laborde, composed the airs of their songs, but 
 these airs were nothing more than the Gregorian chant ; and even it 
 was often merely the chants of the church, which they parodied.f 
 
 This kind of chant or recitative continued in use upon the French 
 stage even to a late period. Voltaire, having observed it to be highly 
 probable that the Melopee, regarded by Aristotle,, in his Poeticks, as 
 an essential part of tragedy, was an even and simple chant, like 
 that of the preface to the mass, which is, in his opinion, the 
 Gregorian chant, and not the Ambrosian, but which is a true melo;pee, 
 adds, that "when the Italians revived tragedy in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, the recitation was a melopee, but which could not be noted ; 
 for who can note inflexions of the voice, which are eighteenths or 
 sixteenths of tone ? They were learned by heart. This usage was 
 received in France, when the French began to form a theatre, 
 above a century after the Italians." 
 
 The Saphomsba of Mairet was chantedlike that of Trissino, but more 
 rudely. All the parts of the actors, but especially of the actresses, were 
 noted memoriter by tradition. Mademoiselle Bauval, an actress of 
 the time of Corneille, of Racine, and of Moliere, recited to me, more 
 than sixty years ago, the beginning of the part of Emilie in Cinna 
 such as it had been delivered in the first representations by Beaupre.J 
 
 All this, it must be confessed, will not be apt to convey a very cor- 
 rect or conspicuous idea of the musical performances of a French 
 minstrel ; it is, nevertheless, by no means improbable that there was 
 a considerable degree of resemblance ; but the misfortune is, that no 
 historian or other writer, who flourished in the time of the minstrels, 
 has ever thought them deserving of much attention. The author of 
 Gerard de Rousillon says, at the commencement of his romance, 
 that he has made it upon the model of The song of Antioch, that is, 
 as Le Grand conceives, he wrote it in the same measure, and sung it 
 to the same tune.§ 
 
 About the commencement of the fifteenth century- the- profession 
 of minstrel was rapidly declining ; and before its expiration, was to 
 all appearance totally extinct, except it may be in a few instances, 
 
 * Historical memoires of the Irish bards, p. 17. Cormac Common, a blind Jins- 
 gealaighthe, or tale-teller of the modern Irish, living in 1786, at the age of eighty- 
 three, of whom this gentleman has,, in his appendix to that interesting work, 
 inserted a curious account, did not, like the tale-teller mentioned by Sir William 
 Temple, chant his tales in an uninternapted even tone :, the monotony of his 
 modulation was frequently broken by cadences introduced with taste at the close 
 of stanza. " In rehearsing any of Ossian's poems (which in Ireland are genuine 
 and ancient), or any composition in verse, (says mister) now Sir William (Ousley), 
 he chants them pretty much in the manner of our Cathedral-service " (p. 57). 
 
 t Essai sur la musiqve, ii., 146 (note). 
 
 I Questions sur /' EncyclopMie, Chant, Musique, etc. ^ B., 317. 
 
86 Ancient English 
 
 where common fiddlers, or the like, might retain the name. No 
 metrical romance, however, appears to have been composed or sung 
 in any part of France after the fourteenth century, nor is the least 
 mention made, or notice taken, of a profession which had made so 
 much noise in the kingdom during the three preceding ones. The 
 old rhyming romances had already been begun to be converted into 
 prose ; in which many others, upon the same or similar subjects, 
 were now composed by a very different set of authors'; many of 
 whom, however, are not entirely devoid of merit ; though Warton, 
 with great reason, considers the change among the French as " a 
 proof of the decay of invention." 
 
 Most of these prose romances, after the invention of printing, made 
 their appearance in large and beautiful folios and quartos, which are 
 at present become very rare, but are still eagerly pursued by collec- 
 tors, and highly esteemed by those who are fortunate enough to 
 possess them. The national library at Paris is peculiarly rich in 
 this species of literary treasure. 
 
 It certainly may be presumed there were in the last age of the Saxon 
 kingdom men who professed and exercised the minstrel-art. King 
 Edgar, about the year 960, enjoined in one of his canons, that 
 no priest should be an ale-drinker, nor, in any wise, a minstrel 
 (zliyize, Saxon ; scurra, Latin, — properly a parasite) either by himself 
 or with others ;* and in his oration to St. Dunstan grieves that the 
 houses of clerks were become a brothel of whores, and a conciabulum 
 of minstrels {histriones) ; and says, in the same oration, that the 
 mimi Sing and Dance :t this, however, is, most probably, a term of 
 the historian's time, and not of the king's, and, therefore, not of 
 equal authority. 
 
 According to Ingulph, King Alfred feigning himself to be jugler 
 {yoculatorem), a harp being taken up, went to the tents of the Danes, 
 and being received into the more secret places, learning all the secrets 
 of his enemies, when he had satisfied his desire, unknown and safe, 
 returned to Athelney : and now, his army being collected, having 
 suddenly attacked, he slew his enemies with incredible slaughter. 
 
 King Godrum (whom we call Gurmound), with a very great 
 multitude of noblemen and also of his people, taken alive, received 
 baptism, and being taken out of the sacred font by the king, was 
 endowed with East-England, that is Norfolk, to inhabit with his 
 people, by the royal gift. The rest refusing to be baptised, England 
 being abjured, sought France in a ship.:]: 
 
 • Spelman's Cotuilia, i., 22S. f Spelman's Concilia, i., 246. 
 
 X 26. William Malmesbury, who enlarges this anecdote and differs in some 
 respects from Ingulph, whom, however, it is certain he had made use of, being not 
 only a less ancient authority, but even adopting several of his words which would 
 not otherwise have occurred to him, at the same time, describes Alfred's disguise 
 as that of a mime or mimic (mimtis), though, apparently, a synonymous term. 
 
 So that Malmesbury, a very honest and faithful historian upon most occasions, 
 is, in this, a mere copyist, and the echo of Ingulphus. It is certainly a somewhat 
 
Metrical Romances. 87 
 
 This defeat of the Danes and subsequent baptism of Gormund 
 took place in the year 878.* Athelstan, the son of Edward, began 
 to reign in the year 924, and held the kingdom sixteen years. His 
 
 suspicious adventure. It is mentioned neither by Asser, not only the contemporary 
 but also the chaplain and confessor, and even the biographer of Alfred, nor in the 
 Saxon chronicle, nor by Henry of Huntingdon, nor Simeon of Durham, nor Roger 
 de Hoveden, all of whom, however, notice the battle in which Godrum was 
 defeated and his final conversion ; nor, in fact, by any other ancient or authentic 
 writer, e.xcept the two already cited. It militates still more forcibly against such a 
 romantic and improbable incident that a pious, warlike, honourable and glorious 
 monarch, who conquered his enemies in the field and not by treachery, should 
 assume the infamous character of a spy.^ It is not less extraordinary, at the same 
 time, that Geoffrey of Monmouth, the contemporary of Malmesbury, who never 
 saw his book, has introduced a third actor of the same foolery by the name of 
 Baldulph, a Saxon, who, having been defeated by the Britons under the command 
 of Cador, Duke of Cornwall, and anxious to relieve or speak with his brother, 
 Colgrin, who was besieged in York by Arthur, " shaved his hair and beard, and 
 took the habit with the harp of a jugler (joculatoris). Then walking up and do%vn 
 within the camp, by the musical notes he composed on his lyre, he showed himself 
 to be a harper ; and when he was suspected of no man, he approached to the 
 walls of the city, effecting his commenced simulation by little and little. At last, 
 when he was found by the besieged, he was drawn up by ropes within the walls , 
 and conducted to his brother " (B. 9, c. i).^ Though, in reality, there is scarcely 
 a single word of truth in this pretended history, yet every flagrant impostor is sure, 
 at some time or other, to obtain behef, favour, and justification. " Although the 
 above fact," according to a right reverend prelate, who mixes his romance with his 
 history, it must be confessed in a very pleasing and ingenious manner, especially 
 for those who are quite indifferent to truth or falsehood, " comes only from the 
 suspicious pen of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the judicious reader will not too hastily 
 reject it ; because if such a fact really happened, it could only be known to us 
 through the medium of British writers. . . . And Geoffrey, with all his fables, is 
 allowed to have recorded many true events that have escaped other annalists " 
 (Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, xxvi.) Now it is certain that this impudent forger, 
 bishop as he was, lived, according to his own fanciful chronology, about six 
 hundred years after King Arthur. Who then are " the British writers," through 
 whose " medium" these absurd and monstrous Ues "could only be known to us " ? 
 Is it Nennius ? Is it Gildas ? Is it any newly-invented British historiographer, who 
 has never yet been heard of? Who are they, likewise, if not fools, knaves, or mad- 
 men, who have followed this rank forger, and impostor, "with all his fables, . . . 
 to have recorded many true events that have escaped other annahsts " ? Where is 
 there any one such event to be found throughout his ample legend ? And how 
 is it possible, with this inconsistent admission, that the "events recorded" by 
 GeoSrey, "with all his fables," can be ascertained to be true? 
 
 * Asser, 34, and the Saxon chronicle. The veracious Geoffrey, as we have 
 ah-eady seen, makes this Gormund King of the Africans, "who had arrived in Ire" 
 
 ■ If " the Anglo-Saxons had such strong prejudice against the minstrels " as is supposed in 
 the Essay on the English ones (Ixxii.), is it at all probable that such a profession would 
 have been permitted to exist among them? Neither Alfred, nor Anlaf, did anything more 
 
 "■-^yi^fr^VvTce^^ds a certain circumstance to Geoffrey's account, which is very whimsical : 
 " Alsege a. lad cums jagelcre. Si fist far vii la barbe rere. 
 
 Si sefeinst Icil esteit harpere E le chef /«?- me ensement 
 
 J I aveit apris a chanter E un des gernuns sulement, 
 
 .EtoV^Moto Sharper, Ben scmbla\zc\imx e ioV 
 
 Faralcrparlerason/rtre. i^e isrut. 
 
88 Afuient English 
 
 last battle was with Analaf,* the son of Sithrick, who, in the hope of 
 invading the realm, had passed over the boundaries ; and Athelstan 
 advisedly yielding, that he might the more gloriously conquer him 
 who now insulted, the youth, greatly daring, and breathing in his 
 mind illicit thoughts, had proceeded very far into England, at length 
 by the great skill of his generals, and great force of soldiers, was met 
 at Bruneford.t He who discerned so great a danger to impend at- 
 tempted a benefit by the art of a spy ; and having put off his royal 
 ensigns, and taken in his hand a harp, proceeded to the tent of our 
 king ; where, as he was singing before the doors, he would occasion- 
 ally also shake the strings with a sweet irregularity, he was easily 
 admitted, professing himself a mime (or mimic, mtmus), who by such 
 kind of art earned his daily stipend. The king and his guests he 
 for some little time gratified with his musical performance : though 
 during his singing and playing, he examined all things with his eyes. 
 After |that satiety of eating had put an end to pleasures, and the 
 severity of administering the war began afresh in the discourse of 
 the peers ; he being ordered to depart, received the price of his 
 song ; which loathing to carry away, he hid under him in the earth. 
 This was observed by some one, who had formerly been a soldier, 
 and immediately told it to Athelstan. He, blaming the man, for 
 that he had not seized an enemy placed before his eyes, received 
 this answer : "The same oath, which I lately, O King, made to thee, 
 I formerly gave to Anlaf ; which if thou hadst seen me violate in 
 myself, thou might' st also beware of a like example regarding thy- 
 self. But deign to hear the advice of a servant, that thou remove 
 thy tent hence, and remaining in another place until the parties left 
 shall come, thou wilt disappoint the enemy, petulantly insulting by 
 modest delay." The speech being approved, he thence departed.}: 
 
 After all, it is highly probable that those three anecdotes of 
 Baldulph, Alfred and Anlaf, have been derived and improved from a 
 story related by Saxo- Grammaticus, the Danish historian, who died 
 in 1204, upon the authority, no doubt, of some ancient ja^fa, con- 
 cerning an adventure of Hother, King of Sweden and Denmark, 
 
 land with a very great fleet, and had subdued that country (B. II., c, 8) ; this, too, 
 may be one of the many true events that have escaped other annalists." 
 
 * More correctly, it is conceived, Aulaf or Olave. He is, however, generally 
 called Anlaf by our ancient historians. 
 
 t Or Brunanburgh, a town upon the Humber, now unknown ; but certainly not, 
 as Camden absurdly conjectures, Bromeridge in Northumberland. Robert Mannyng 
 says expressly : " At Brunesburgh on Humber thei gan tham assaile" (p. 31). 
 
 J W. of Malmesbury, 48. Anlaf, unconscious of the change which has taken 
 place in the situation of the king's tent, makes his attempt in the night, and slays 
 the whole family he found in the place where he had performed his minstrelsy and 
 been entertained. He then penetrates to the real tent of Athelstan, who was indulg- 
 ng in rest ; and making what exertions he was able, his sword falls out of the 
 sheathi he is relieved by a miracle, and in the morning obtains a decisive victory. 
 The whole story, therefore, is nothing more than a legend and a lie. 
 
Metrical Romances. 89 
 
 who, at a certain time, as he was hunting, misled by the error of 
 a cloud, fell into the cave of the Sylvestrian virgins, of whom 
 being saluted by his own name, he inquired who they were. 
 These virgins affirmed that by their conduct and their auspices, 
 they chiefly governed the fortune of wars. For, oftentimes 
 they were present in battles, seen by no man, to afford by secret 
 aids the wished-for successes to their friends ;* and exhorting 
 him not to harass Balder, the son of Othin (although worthy of the 
 most deadly hatred) by arms ; affirming him to be a demi-god, 
 procreated by the secret seed of superior beings. These things 
 being received, Hother, in a swoon, by the roof of a falling house, 
 beheld himself in the open air, and destitute of all cover, exposed on 
 a sudden in the midst of fields. But he chiefly wondered at the 
 swift flight of the damsels, and the versatile site of the place, and the 
 delusive figure of the house. For he was ignorant that the things 
 which had been done about him were nothing but mockery, and the 
 vain device of juggling arts. But Hother, harassed by his unfor- 
 tunate wars with Balder, having wandered into remote and devious 
 ways of places, and passed through a forest unaccustomed to mortals, 
 found the cave inhabited, peradventure, by the unknown virgins 
 They appeared to be the same who had formerly given him an im- 
 penetrable vest ; by whom being asked why he came thither of all 
 places, he declared the fatal events of war. Therefore their faith 
 being condemned (or their promise violated), he began to bewail the 
 fortune and sorrowful chances of things unhappily conducted. But 
 the nymphs said that he himself, although he were rarely victor, 
 nevertheless poured in equal mischief upon the enemies, nor had he 
 been the author of less slaughter than his accomplice. Hencefor- 
 ward the grace of the victory in readiness would be his, if he could 
 snatch a meat of a certain unusual sweetness, invented to augment 
 the force of Balder. For nothing to be done would be difficult, so 
 long as he should enjoy the victuals destined to the enemy for the aug- 
 mentation of his strength. 
 
 Therefore, arriving at the camp of the enemies, he knew that the 
 three nymphs, bearers of the secret meat, had departed from the 
 camp of Balder : whom hastily following (for their footsteps in the 
 dew betrayed their flight), he, at length, came to the houses to 
 which they had accustomed themselves. Therefore, being asked by 
 these nymphs what he was, he said he was a harper. Nor was the 
 experiment dissonant to his profession : for, tuning the harp he had 
 brought, with inflected strings, to a song, and the chords being com- 
 posed by the quill, he poured forth a melody grateful to the ears by the 
 most prompt modulation. As to the rest, three female snakes were 
 with them, with the poison thereof they were wont to make a dish 
 of solidative confection for Balder : and much poison now flowed from 
 
 * These nymphs seem to have been the valkyriur of the Edda, and the three 
 weird (or wizard) sisters of IVIacbeth. 
 
90 Ancient English 
 
 the open jaws of the snakes. But some of the nymphs, also, studious 
 of humanity, would have acquainted Hother with the meat, if the 
 chief of the three had not forbid it, protesting that a fraud would be 
 done to Balder, if they should augment his very enemy with the 
 increase of corporeal strength. He said he was not Hother, but a 
 companion of Hother, and, therefore, these nymphs gave him a girdle 
 of exquisite splendour, and the potent zone of victory. On a future 
 day Balder renewed the battle, and the third being elapsed, too 
 much excruciated with the wound he had before received, was utterly 
 destroyed.* 
 
 In the time of William the Conqueror, Berdic, the king's jugler 
 {joculaior regius), had three vils, and there five carucates, in Glou- 
 cestershire without rent ;t but the nature of his ofiBce or employment 
 is not ascertained ; nor does the existence of this man after the con- 
 quest aiford any proofs, " that the minstrel was a regular and stated 
 officer in the court of our Anglo-Saxon kings. "if Though the min- 
 strels are, elsewhere, said to have been considered in a very unfavour- 
 able light " by the Anglo-Saxon clergy."§ 
 
 One Royer, or Raher, the first founder of the hospital of St. 
 Bartholomew, in London, is designed by Leland the mime or mimic 
 [mimus) of King Henry I.|| 
 
 And that mimus is properly a minstrel is proved by an extract in 
 the History of English Poetry, \ from the accounts of the priory of 
 Maxtock, near Coventry, in 1441 : " Dat. sex mimis domini Clynton 
 cantantibus, citharisantibus, ludentibus, etc. iiii. f." In his legend, 
 cited by doctor Percy, from the Monasticon, " his minstrel profes- 
 sion," it appears, "is not mentioned: there is only a general 
 indistinct account that he frequented royal and noble houses, where 
 he ingratiated himself suavitate Jocular i."** Hence Stow, who 
 cites no authority, describes himself as " A man of a singular and 
 pleasant wit, and therefore of many called the king's jester or min- 
 strel ;"tt and Delon^, in the History of Thom-as of Reading, says 
 that he " was a great musician and kept a company of MINSTRELS, 
 i.e. Fiddlers, who played with silver bows."Jt 
 
 King Henry may have had a harper named Galfridor Jeffrey, who, 
 in II 80, received a corrody or annuity from the Abbey of Hide: but 
 as we by no means know that " in the early times every harper was 
 
 * HUtoria denica, L. 3, p. 39, 43. 
 
 \ Domesday Book, fo. 162, co. I. 
 
 } Reliques, I., xxviii. 
 
 § Hid., Iv. (edition 1775). 
 
 II Leland's Collectanea, \. , 61, H2. In another part of the same work is this 
 entry : ' ' Prioratus S. Barptolomai de Smethefeld. Henncus I. , fundator procu- 
 rante Raherio, ejus fideli Clerico" (ibid. 99). 
 
 IT 11-, 109. n^q- 
 
 ** Reliques, I., Ixxxi. 
 
 fj- Aniiales, 1592, 186, Siii-vey, 1598,308. 
 
 XI Hawkins, iii., 85. 
 
Metrical Romances. 91 
 
 expected to sing," we may reasonably doubt that this reward was 
 given him for his songs, as well as for his music,* and still more that 
 it was " undoubtedly on condition that he should serve the monks in 
 the profession of a harper on public occasions, "f 
 
 To show what John of Salisbury, in the reign of King Henry II., 
 thought of this numerous body of men, it will be necessary to adduce 
 his own words, and for certain nameless reasons, after the laudable 
 example of the worthy historian of English poetry ,who has furnished us 
 with the extract, to give them in Latin. " At earn {desidiam)," says 
 he, " nostris ^roroganthxstTiones Admissa sunt ergo spectactula, ei 
 infinita lenocinia vanitatis. — Hinc mimi salii, vel saliares, bala- 
 trones, semiliani, gladiatores, palsestritae, gignadii, prsestigiatores, 
 malefici qtwque vtulti, et tota joculatorum scena ;procedit. 
 Quorum adeo error invaluii, ut d praeclaris domibus nofi areantur 
 eiiam Hit, qui dbsccExas partibus corporis, oculis omnium earn in- 
 gerunt turpitudinem, quam erubescet videre vel cynicus. Quodque 
 magis m.irere, nee tunc ejiciuntur, quando tumultuantes inferius 
 crebro sonitu aerem fcedant, et, tur^iter inclusum tur^ius ^ro- 
 dunt."X 
 
 In the reign of this king, William surnamed Longchamp, a 
 Frenchman, Bishop of Ely, or his chancellor, great justiciary, and 
 according to the language of modern times, prime minister, who did 
 not understand a word of English, and was a monster of vice and 
 iniquity, " to the augmentation," as we learn from a contemporary 
 epistle of Hugh, Bishop of Coventry, " and fame of his name, pur- 
 chased begged songs and adulatory rimes and had enticed with 
 rewards, out of the kingdom of France, singers and juglers, that they 
 might sing of him in the streets : and now was it everywhere said, 
 that there was not such a one in the world."§ 
 
 Geoffrey of Vinesauf says that when Richard arrived at the Chris- 
 tian camp before Ptolemais, he was received with Popular Songs 
 {po^ulares cantiones), which recited The famous Gests of the 
 Ancients {Antiquorum ipraclara gesta).\\ These, apparently 
 were parts of metrical romances, and must have been in French. 
 
 Ela, the wife of William Longespee the first, was born at Ambres- 
 buiy, her father and mother being Normans. Her father, therefore, 
 being decayed with old age, migrated to Christ, in the year of the 
 Lord 1 196; her mother dyed two years before. ... In the mean- 
 time the most dear lady was secretly by her relations conveyed into 
 
 ♦ Reliques, etc., I., xxvii. 
 
 \ Warton, i. , 92. 
 
 t II., 205, n. 
 
 S Benedictus, 702. Mister Warton, who, at first, mistook this act of WiUiam, 
 Bishop of Ely, for that of the king himself, a mistake which the more accurate 
 Tyrwhitt taught him to correct, adds, of his own accord, that " These gratuities 
 were chiefly arms, deaths, horses, and sometimes money " {I., its, H-, 62 b). 
 
 II Warton, I., 62 b. 
 
92 Ancient English 
 
 Normandy, and there brought up under safe and straight custody. 
 In the same time in England was a certain knight, by name William 
 Talbot, who assumed the habit of a pilgrim, passed over into Nor- 
 mandy, and stayed for two years, wandering here and there, to find 
 out the lady Ela of Salisbury : and she being found, he put off the 
 habit of a pilgrim, and dressed himself as if he were a harper, 
 and entered the court where she stayed : and as he was a jocose 
 man, wel skilled in the gests* of the ancients, he was there kindly 
 received as an inmate : and when he found a fit time, he returned 
 into England, having with him that worshipful lady Ela, heiress 
 of the county of Salisbury ; and presented her to King Richard : and 
 he most joyfully took her, and married her to his brother William 
 Longespee. t 
 
 The anecdote related by Doctor Powell, "who," according to 
 Bishop Percy, "is known to have followed ancient Welsh MSS." 
 which, at the same time, he neither quotes nor pretends to, and, 
 after him, by Camden, and Sir William Dugdale, is not to be relied 
 on, it being better known that the Welsh have no such MSS., except 
 Caradoc, who was dead before it happened, as containing misrepre- 
 sentation and falsehood ; Sir Peter Leycester, who cites an ancient 
 parchment roll, written above two hundred years before, gives the 
 story thus: " Randle (the third, surnamed Blundevill, Earl of 
 Chester), among the many conflicts he had with the Welsh, was 
 forced to retreat to the castle of Rothelent, in Flintshire, about the 
 reign of King John, where they besieged him : he presently sent to 
 his constable of Cheshire, Roger Lacy, " surnamed Hell," for his 
 fierce spirit, that he would come with all speed, and bring what 
 forces he could towards his relief. Roger, having gathered a 
 tumultuous rout of fidlers, flayers, coblers, debauched jiersons, 
 both men and women, out of the city of Chester (for 'twas then the 
 fair-time in that city), — marcheth immediately towards the earl. 
 The Welsh perceiving a great multitude coming, raised their siege 
 and fled. The earl, coming back with his constable to Chester, 
 gave him power over all the fidlers and shoemakers in Chester, in 
 reward and memory of this service. The constable retained to 
 himself and his heirs, the authority and donation of the shoemakers, 
 but conferred the authority of the fidlers and flayers on his steward, 
 which then was Button of Button, whose heirs enjoyed the same 
 power and authority over the minstrelcy of Cheshire even to this 
 
 * Gesta, romances. Doctor Percy has strangely confounded the gests of the 
 minstrels with those of the sovereign in his progresses, the word, he says, having 
 at length come "to signify adventures or incidents in general" (i, clii.) This is 
 amazingly ridiculous, as it is well known that when our kings used to travel, the 
 gest (giste, F. ) was the resting-place for every night to which the whole party was 
 to be apprised. Charles I. seems to have been the last of them who proceeded 
 by gests. 
 
 t Vincent's Discovery of Errors, etc., 445, etc. 
 
Metrical Romances. 93 
 
 day ; who in memory hereof keep a yearly court upon the feast of 
 St. John the Baptist at Chester, where all the minstrels of the 
 county and city are to attend and play before the lord of Button, 
 &c." * After all, it is to be wished we could have had coeval autho- 
 rity for so interesting an event. Doctor Percy, who has worked it up 
 with his usual eloquence and ingenuity, into a fine minstrel story, 
 says : "These men (minstrels, he calls them, assembled at Chester 
 fair) LIKE so manyTyrt.^us's, by their music and their songs 
 so ALLURED AND INSPIRED the multitudes of loose and lawless 
 persons then brought together, that they resolutely marched against 
 the Welsh." This, to be sure, as a beautiful hyperbole, might have 
 properly remained, "had not," in his lordship's own language, "all 
 confidence been destroyed,"! by its being printed between inverted 
 commas as the genuine words of Sir William Dugdale, whom he 
 actually quotes in the margin : in consequence of which detection, 
 his lordship has been so ingenuous, as, in the last edition, to suppress 
 the whole passage. There may, however, have been some founda- 
 tion for the above narrative, as the worthy baronet has inserted the 
 original charter of John Constable of Chester, by which he gave, 
 says he, " dedi 6= concessi, & hdc present i chartA confirmavi, 
 Hugoni de Button, Of hceredibus suis, magistratum omnium lecca- 
 TORUM & MERETRICUM totius Cestershiriae, sicut liberius ilium 
 magistratum teneo de comite." These leccatores, it seems, which 
 Sir Peter translates letckers, may, upon the authority of Du Cange, 
 still mean m.instrels ; and, from the company they are here found 
 in, it is very properly applied. It is not, however, very probable 
 that these letchers (or minstrels if it must be), viWh. Jiddles at their 
 necks, instead of bills, and accompanied by a parcel of prostitutes, 
 would or could have gone to attack a body of Welshmen, who had 
 already put to flight the noble and valiant earl of Chester, among 
 whose gallant actions recorded in the old rimes mentioned by the 
 author of Piers Plowman,X this may be one. 
 
 It appears, in fact, that, in the fourteenth year of King Henry VII. , 
 " a quo warranto was brought against Laurence Button of Button, 
 Esquire, why he claimed all the minstrels of Cheshire, and in the 
 city of Chester, to meet him at Chester yearly, at the feast of St. 
 John Baptist, and to give unto him at the said feast four bottles of 
 wine and a lance ; and also every ininstrel to pay unto him at the 
 said feast fourpence-halfpenny ; and why he claimed from every 
 whore, officium. suufn exercente, four pence, to be paid yearly at 
 the feast aforesaid: whereunto he pleaded prescription." 
 
 At the court held annually for the manor of Button, the steward 
 having called every minstrel, and impanelled a jury, charged them 
 
 * Historical Antiquities, 141. 
 
 t See Reliques, etc., I., xxxi., etc. 
 
 I lean rimes of RoHn Hood and Randal Earl of Chester. 
 
 § Ibid., 142. 
 
94 Ancient English 
 
 to enquire, "whether any man of that profession had exercised his 
 ins^rum.eni without license from the lord of the court, &c." * 
 
 Dugdale, who describes the congress of all the minstrels of 
 Cheshire at midsummer, and the procession of these minstrels " two 
 and two, and playing on their several sorts of musical instruments," 
 says not a word of their songs. 
 
 " Forthwith came John of Rampayne, and saw Foukes make such 
 sorrow. ' Sir,' said he, ' suffer this sorrow to depart, and, if it 
 please God, before tomorrow prime, you shall hear good news of Sir 
 Andulf de Bracy, for I myself will go to speak to the King." John of 
 Rampaygne knew enough of the tabour, the har^, violin, sitole, 
 undjuglery, so he drew much abundantly with earl or baron ; and 
 caused stain his hair and his whole body entirely as black as jet, so 
 that nothing was white but his teeth ; and caused hang about his 
 neck a very handsome tabour ; afterward he mounted a fair palfrey, 
 and rode toward the town of Salisbury, as far as the gate of the 
 castle. John came before the King, and put himself on his knees, 
 and saluted the King very courteously ; the King returned him his 
 salutes, and asked him whence he was. ' Sire,' said he, ' I am 
 an Ethiopian minstrel, born in Ethiopia.' Said the King, 'Are 
 all the people of your country of your colour.' ' Yes, my lord, man 
 and woman.' 'What say they in those strange realms of me?' 
 'Sire,' said' he, 'you are the most renowned king of all Christen- 
 dom ; and for your great renown am I come to see you.' ' Fair 
 sir,' said the King, 'welcome.' 'Sir, my lord, many thanks.' 
 (John said that he was renowned more for his badness than his 
 bounty ; but the King could not understand him.) John made that 
 day many a minstrelsy with tabour and other instruments. When 
 the King was gone to bed, he made Sir Henry de Audeley go for to 
 see the minstrel, and he led him into his chamber, and they made 
 great melody: and, when Sir Henry had well drunk, then he said to 
 a varlet, ' Go seek Sir Andulf de Bracy, whom the King will slay 
 tomorrow, for he shall have a good night before his death.' The 
 varlet soon brought Sir Andulf into his chamber, then they talked 
 and played. John commenced a song which Sir Andulf used to 
 sing. Sir Andulf raised his head, so he regarded in the middle his 
 visage, and with great di£B.culty knew him. Sir Henry asked to 
 drink, John was very serviceable, danced lightly on his feet, and 
 before all served of the cup. John was brisk, cast a powder in the 
 cup, that no one perceived him, for he was a good jugler, and all 
 that drank became so sleepy, that, very soon after the draught, they 
 lay down to sleep ; and, when all were asleep, John took a fool that 
 the king had, so he put him between the two knights, that they 
 might save Sir Andulf. John and Sir Andulf took the towels and 
 sheets that were in the chamber, and by a window toward the 
 
 * King's Vale Royal of England, zf). 
 
Metrical Romances. 95 
 
 Severne they escaped, and went on toward Blanchemolt, which is 
 twelve leagues from Salisbury."* 
 
 On the marriage of King Henry III. with Eleanor of Provence, 
 in 1236, such a multitude of nobles of each sex, such a number of 
 religious, such a populousness of the commons, such a variety of 
 histrioties (musicians, it is presumed), assembled, that scarcely 
 could the city of London contain them in her capacious bosom. t 
 
 We meet with no other anecdote of the minstrels during the 
 reigns of John, (unless it be the romance of Fulco-Fitz-Warim 
 already noticed), nor any at all in that of his son Henry, or his 
 grandson Edward. The last, indeed, when prince, and in the Holy 
 Land, appears to have had a harper among his servants, who, on 
 his master's attempted assassination, and even after the king him- 
 self had slain the assassin, had the singular courage to brain a dead 
 man with a trivet, or tripod, for which act of heroism he was justly 
 reprimanded by Edward.^ It may be, likewise, observed that The 
 geste of Kyng Horn was, apparently, written in his reign. 
 
 His son, Edward the Second, was much addicted to buffoons, 
 singers, tragedians, waggoners, ditchers, rowers, sailors, and other 
 such low company : § under some or one of which respectable desig- 
 nations are, doubtless, included minstrels and juglers. Adam 
 Davie, the author of Alisaundre, a romance of great merit, and of 
 considerable length, was marshal of Stratford-le-Bow at the same 
 period. 
 
 Seventy shillings were expended on minstrels, who accompanied 
 their songs with the harp, at the feast of the installation of Ralph, 
 abbot of St. Augustin's at Canterbury, in the year 1309. At this 
 magnificent solemnity, six thousand guests were present in and about 
 thehalloftheAbbey.il 
 
 * King's MSS., 12 C. xii. 
 t M. Paris, p. 3SS. 
 
 I Walter Hemingford (Gale), sgi- Robert of Brunne, however, tells us, that 
 Edward himself rauht the trestilU, " als his romance sais : " adding, 
 
 " The Carazin so he smote, in the hede, with that treste, 
 That brayn and Mode alle hote, and igen alle out, gan brest." 
 
 According to Doctor Percy, Heminford lived in the time of Edward I. [Reliques, 
 III., xl.) ; which, if living implies writing, is somewhat unlikely, as he lived to 
 write the life of that monarch's grandson, and did not die, as Bale hath it, before 
 1347, 40 years after the death of Edward I. , and 70 from the event in question. 
 Matthew Paris, hkewise, who relates the story, and certainly wrote about the time, 
 has made no mentipn of the harper. There appears to have been some metrical 
 narrative, either in French or English, of Edward's expedition to the holy land ; 
 as Robert of Brunne says of the assassin : "To, I wene he lauht, als his romance 
 says, " p. 229. Warton, by one of his habitual blunders, asserts ' ' the harper .... 
 hilled the assassin," (11, sig. b2, ^.) 
 ^ Warton, i., 89. 
 
 II H. de Knyghton, co. 2532. 
 
96 Ancient English 
 
 In the year 1217 the King celebrated the feast of the Pentecost in 
 the great hall of Westminster, where, as he royally sat at table, the 
 princes of his realm being present, there entered a certain woman 
 adorned with the habit of a minstrel [histrio], sitting upon a good 
 horse, caparisoned jugler-wise, who went round the tables in the 
 manner of juglers, and at length ascended by the steps to the King's 
 table, and put a certain letter before the King, and pulling back the 
 rein (having saluted those eVerjrwhere sitting), as she had come, so 
 she departed. The King, however, caused the letter to be opened, 
 that he might know its tenor, which in sense was such : "The lord 
 the King too uncourtly hath regarded his knights, who, in his father's 
 time and his own, exposed themselves to several dangers, and, for 
 their honour, either lost or diminished their substance ; and too 
 abundantly enriched others, who never bore the burthen of busy- 
 ness." These words being heard the guests, regarding each other, 
 wondered at so great feminine boldness, and severely blamed the 
 porters or doorkeepers that they had permitted her to enter; who, 
 excusing themselves, answered, that it was not the custom of the 
 king's house that juglers should, in any wise, be prohibited from 
 entry, and especially in such great solemnities, or feast days. It 
 was, therefore, sent to seek the woman, who was easily found, 
 taken, and committed to prison, and was forced to tell why she had 
 so done, and answered the truth, that she had been induced to do 
 it by a certain knight for an adequate reward. Then the knight was 
 sought, found, taken, and led before the King, and examined upon 
 the premises ; who, nothing at all fearing, boldly confessed that he 
 was author of the letter, and had done it for the King's honour. 
 The said knight, therefore, by his constancy, obtained the King's 
 favour, with abundant gifts, and liberated the young woman from 
 prison.* This was, manifestly, a woman pranked up like a minstrel, 
 not a real one, for, notwithstanding the pains Doctor Percy has 
 taken to prove that some ladies, in former times, played upon the 
 harp, as many do at this day, there is no instance to be found of 
 their doing it, as a minstrel, in public and for the sake of reward, 
 nor of their being called female minstrels or harpers. Neither can 
 this be fairly inferred from the female terminations of jengleresse 
 (which is very suspicious), joculatrix, ininistralissa, fcemina 
 ministralis, etc., unless it were known in what sense the word was 
 used, and whether this female minstrel sung to the harp verses of 
 her own composing, or composed by others, or what particular 
 branch of minstrelsy she exercised. That there were women who 
 danced and tumbled is manifest from Chaucer : 
 
 " And right anon in comen tombesteres." 
 
 So, again, in The Testament of Love (Urry's edition, 493 a), 
 "his dame was a tombystere" ; which seems properly explained in 
 
 T. Walsingham, 109, 
 
Metrical Romances. 97 
 
 Mister Thomases Glossary, "A tumbler, a woman dancer, or stage- 
 player." Mister Tyrwhitt, who derives the word from the Saxon 
 iumban, to dance, explains it, — " A dancing-woman," or "Women- 
 dancers.' ' The following passage, however, from the ancient Roman 
 de Perceoal, will put the existence of female dancers and tumblers 
 out of all doubt : 
 
 " Harper y faisoit harpeors, 
 Et vieler vieleors, 
 Et les baleresses baler 
 Et les Tumbleresses Tumber.^' 
 
 The baleresses, or female dancers, are here plainly distinguished 
 from the tumbleresses, which, therefore, cannot have the same iden- 
 tical meaning; and Tomber, in Cotgrave's Dictionary, is explained 
 to fall, or tumble down, and refers from Tumber to Tomier. 
 
 When Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Winchester, visited his cathe- 
 dral priory of St. Swithin in that city, a jugler named Herbert sung 
 The Song of Colbrond, and also The gest of queen Em.7na, de- 
 liver^ d from the f lough-shares, in the hall of the prior, Alexander 
 de Herriard, in 1338.* 
 
 At the feast of Pentecost, which King Henry V. celebrated 
 in 1416, having the emperor and the Duke of Holland for his 
 guests, he ordered rich gowns for sixteen of his minstrels : and, 
 having before his death orally granted an annuity of one hundred 
 shillings to each of his minstrels, the grant was confirmed in the 
 first year of his son, Henry VI., £(,nd payment ordered out of the 
 Exchequer.! 
 
 Men thus distinguished by such singular marks of royal favour 
 must have been in some office about the King's person very different 
 from that of singers or performers of instrumental music. 
 
 The commission issued in 1456, " for impressing boys o'^ youths to 
 supply vacancies by death among the King's minstrels," sufficiently 
 proves that by the latter we are to understand the singing men in 
 the chapel-royal. This idea is confirmed by Tusser : 
 
 " Thence for my voice, I must (no choice) 
 Away of forse, like posting horse, 
 For sundrie men had placards then 
 
 Such child to take : 
 The better brest, the lesser rest. 
 To serve the queere, now there now heere. 
 For time so spent, I may repent. 
 
 And sorrow make." 
 
 In the margin he calls these j5/a<:ari£r " singing men's commis- 
 sions." 
 
 * Warlon, i., 89. 
 
 t Reliques, I., xliv., from Rymer's Fmdcra. 
 
98 Ancient English 
 
 That "minstrels sometimes assisted at divine service," appears 
 from the charter of Edward IV. for creating a fraternity or guild of 
 those perspns ; in which it is recited to be their duty "to sing in the 
 king's chapel/ and particularly for the departed souls of the king 
 and queen when they shall die, etc."* There are such kind of 
 minstrels in it to this day, though they have long ago lost the 
 name. 
 
 Lydgate, in a passage of his poem entitled Reson and Sensualitie, 
 as quoted by Warton, enumerates a variety of entertainments com- 
 prehended under the name of minstrelsy : 
 
 "Of all maner of mynstralcye 
 
 That any man can specify e : 
 , For there were rotys of Almayne, 
 
 And eke of Arragon and Spayne : 
 ^„_ Songes, stam^pes, and eke daunces, 
 
 Divers plent6 of plesaunces ; 
 
 And many unkouth notys newe 
 
 Of swiche folke as loved trewe ; 
 
 And instrumentys that did excelle, 
 
 Many moo than I kan telle ; 
 
 Harrys, fythales, and eke rotys. 
 
 Well according with her notys, 
 
 Luiys, ribibles, and geternes. 
 
 More for estatys than tavemes ; 
 
 Orguys, citolis, monacordys. — 
 
 There were trumfes, and trumfettes , 
 
 Lowde ' shalmys' a.ndidouceties."\ 
 The instruments of the English minstrels appear to have been 
 the harp, fiddle,^ bagpipe, pipe and tabour, cittern, hurdy-gurdy, 
 bladder (or cannister), and string,§ and, possibly, the Jews-harp, || 
 
 * Ibid, I. , iv. 
 
 t History of English Poetry, ii. , 225, No. x. " Orguys is organs "_ 
 X In The Life of St. Christopher, as quoted by Warton (i., 17) from an ancient 
 MS. in the Bodleian Library (Laud, L. 70), is this passage : 
 
 " Cristofre hym served longe ; 
 The kynge loved melodye much of fithelb and of songe, 
 So that his JOGELER on a dai biforen him gon to play faste, 
 And in a time he nemped in his song the devil at laste." 
 
 ^ A venerable old man, the melancholy representative of an ancient minstrel, 
 appeared a few years ago in London streets, with a cannister and string, which he 
 called a humstrung, and chanted to it the old minstrel ballad of Lord Thomas and 
 fair Eleanor ; but having, it would seem, survived his minstrel talents, and 
 
 "Forgot his epick, nay pindaridc art," 
 he was afterward seen begging. The death of a person of this description, we 
 had known in Derbyshire, was, about the same time, announced in the papers. 
 
 I| Henry Chettle says : "There is another jugler, that beeing well skild in the 
 Jewes trumpe, takes upon him to bee a dealer in musicke: especially good at 
 mending instruments." — Kind-Harts Dreame, Sig. F, 46. 
 
Metrical Romances. gg 
 
 and a variety of vulg-ar inventions, the nature and name of which 
 have long since perished. Little notice can be added to that which 
 has been already given of the French minstrels, of their melody or 
 music ; not a single particle of any one romance in English metre, 
 being found accompanied with musical notes, though it is possible 
 that the chants of the few minstrel-songs already mentioned may be 
 preserved by vocal or vulgar tradition, that of yohn Dory alone 
 being found in printed characters. All, in short, that is known of 
 the minstrel-music of this country is that it was very unrythmical 
 or irregular. "Your ordinarie rimers," says Puttenham, "use very 
 much their measures in the odde, as nine and eleven, and the sharpe 
 accent upon the last syllable, which, therefore, makes him go ill- 
 favouredly, and like a MINSTRELS musicke."* 
 
 "The minstrels," as Doctor Percy observes " seem to have been 
 in many respects upon the same footing as the heralds : and the 
 king of the minstrels, like the king at arms, was both here and on 
 the continent an usual officer in the courts of princes. Thus we 
 have in the reign of King Edward 1. mention of a King Robert, and 
 others : and in i6 Edward II. is a grant to William de Morlee ' the 
 King's minstrel, stiled Roy de North,' of houses which had be- 
 longed to another king John le Boteler." Rymer hath also printed a 
 licence granted by King Richard II., in 1387, to John Caumz, the 
 king of his minstrels, to pass the seas.f 
 
 The "minstrells" of the King's household, in the time of Edward 
 III., were "trompeters, cytelers, pypers, tabrete, mabrers, clarions, 
 fedelers, wayghtes."t 
 
 Those of King Edward IV. were musicians "whereof some ' were ' 
 trom^pets, some with the shalmes and smalle ^ypes, and some, 
 strange mene coming to the court at [the] fyve feastes of the year, 
 and then take their wages .... after iiij. d. ob. by day," etc. § 
 
 The "mynstrals " of the earl of Northumberland, in the time of 
 King Henry VIII., were no more than " Si tabaret, a luyte, and a 
 rebec." \i 
 
 Among the household musicians of King Edward VI. are enume- 
 rated "harpers, singers, minstrelles ; " H what was the peculiar 
 office of the last does not appear ; but it must be evident that they 
 were neither singers nor harjiers. 
 
 In the feast of Alwyn the Bishop, and Ammg :pietancia in the hall 
 of the convent of St. Swithin, Winchester, six minstrels, with four 
 
 * Arte of English Poesie, 1589, p. 59. 
 t Reliques, I., xliii. 
 
 % Hawkins's History of Music, ii., 107. Wayghtes were players on the hautboy 
 or other pipes during the night, as they are in many places at this day. 
 § Ibid., 290. 
 II Reliques, I., Ixxiv. 
 "if Hawkins, iii., 479. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 harpers, made their minstrelsies ; and after supper in the great 
 bowed chamber of the lord prior, sang the same gest ; in which 
 chamber was suspended, as was the custom, the great arras of the 
 prior, having the pictures of the three kings of Cologne.' 
 
 In an account-roll of the priory of Bicester, in Oxfordshire, Mister 
 Warton found a parallel instance under the year 1432, by which it 
 appears that four shillings were given to six minstrels of Bucking- 
 ham, singing in the refectory The Martyrdom of the Seven Sleepers, 
 at the feast of the Epiphany.f 
 
 In the fourth year of King Richard II. (1380), John King of 
 Castille and Leon Duke of Lancaster, by a charter in the French 
 tongue, ordained, constituted, and assigned his well beloved N.N., 
 the king of the minstrels, within his honour of Tutbury, which now 
 is or who for the time shall be to take and arrest all the minstrels 
 within his same honour and franchise, who refused to do their 
 services and minstrelsy to them appertaining to do from ancient 
 time at Tutbury aforesaid, annually the day of the assumption of 
 our lady : giving and granting to the said king of the minstrels 
 for the time being full power and command to make them do reason- 
 ably, justify and constrain to do their services and minstrelsies in 
 manner as belongs, and as it there has been used and from ancient 
 times accustomed.! These minstrels, like those in Cheshire, appear 
 to have been a very disorderly and licentious set of men, who 
 required a court of justice to keep them in order. Plot, who was 
 a spectator of their procession in the reign of Charles the Second, 
 thus describes it ; " On the court-day, or morrow of the assumption, 
 what time all the minstrels within the honor come first to the 
 baylifi's house, where the steward or his deputy meeting them they 
 all goe from thence to the parish church of Tutbury, two and two 
 together, musick flaying before them, the king of the minstrells 
 for the year past walking between the steward and bayliff, etc."§ 
 
 One of the articles of enquiry in the steward's charge to the 
 inquest was, whether any of the minstrels within the honour had 
 " abused or disparaged their honorable profession, by drunkenness, 
 profane cursing or swearing, SINGING LEWD OR OBSCENE SONGS, 
 etc.," which is all the information we can obtain of their minstrel 
 talents. There was a custom in this manor that the m.instrels who 
 came to matins thither on the Feast of the Assumption should have 
 a bull given them by the prior of Tutbury, if they could take him on 
 that side of the river Dove which is next Tutbury ; or else the prior 
 should give them forty pence ; for the enjoyment of which custom 
 
 * Registr. Priorat. S. Swithini Winton, quoted in the History of English 
 Poetry, ii. , 174, n.m. 
 
 t n- 175- 
 
 t Blount's Law Dictionaiy, king of the minstrels. 
 § Natural History of Staffordshire, 437. 
 
Metrical Romances, 
 
 they were to give to the lord at that feast twenty. This bull, being, 
 by inexpressible barbarities, "rendered as mad as 'tis possible for 
 him to be, ' ' was turned out of the abbey-gate where these respectable 
 personages, " who subsisted by the arts of poetry and music, and 
 sang to the harp verses composed by themselves, or others," were 
 waiting to satiate their savage cruelty ; and, if they could take this 
 poor mutilated animal, and hold him so long as to cut off some of 
 his hair, the bull was brought to the bailiff's house, "and there 
 collared and roped, and so brought to the bull-ring in the high 
 street, and there baited with dogs ! "* 
 
 The worthy and pious editor of The Reliques of Ancient English 
 Poetry observes, with a nota bene, that " The barbarous diversion of 
 bull-running was no part of the original institution, etc., as is fully 
 proved by the Rev. Dr. Pegge in Archceologia, vol. ii., No. xiii., 
 p. 80." But whether part of "the original institution" or not, it 
 was practised by these infamous fiddlers or ballad-singers (whom 
 that editor is desirous to treat with so much delicacy and respect) 
 for upwards of three hundred years, at the least, being confirmed by 
 inspeximus in the time of King Henry VI., and having continued, 
 to the disgrace and infamy of those who were concerned in it, down 
 to the year 1778, when the minstrel-court, bull-baiting, etc., were 
 abolished by the Duke of Devonshire, lessee of the honor.f 
 
 By an order of the Chancellor of the Duchy-court, dated the loth 
 of May in the sixth year of Charles I. (amongst othpr orders to the 
 like purposes): "Item, it is ordered, that no person shall use, or 
 exercise, the art and science of music within the counties of Stafford 
 and Darbie, as a common musician or minstrel for benefit and 
 gain, except he have served or been brought up in the same art 
 and science, by the space of seven years, and be allowed and 
 admitted so to do at the said court, called the minstrels' court, by the 
 jury of the said court for the time being, or the greater part of them, 
 being xii. in number, by the consent of the steward of the said court, 
 for the time being, on pain to forfeit, for every month that he shall 
 so use, or exercise the said art, or science, \\\s. iiijif." 
 
 "What feast, I pray," exclaims Thomas of Elmham, describing 
 the coronation of King Henry V., "can be said to be more solemn 
 than that which such a royal presence honoured, such a multitude 
 of princes and ladies adorned, where the tumultuous noise of so 
 many trumpets forced the aethereal parts to rgecho with the 
 thundering roar, and the hyperlyrical melody of the harpers, by a 
 certain most velocious touch of the fingers, shaking long notes with 
 short ones, softly tickled the ears of the guests by a most sweet and 
 gentle whisper. The musical concert, also, of the other instruments, 
 which learned to jar by the strife of no dissonance, invited them to 
 
 * VXois Natural History of Staffordshire, pp. 437, 439. 
 
 t See the edition of Blount's Ancient Temires, by Beckwith, p. 313. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 congruous joys."* Warton, who has mentioned this ceremony, tells 
 us he did it to introduce a circumstance very pertinent to his 
 purpose, "which is, that the number of harpers in the hall was 
 innumerable, who, UNDOUBTEDLY, accompanied their instruments 
 with heroic rhymes ;" f although Elmham, his sole authority, 
 neither says that "the number of harpers was innumerable, nor 
 that there was any singing at all ; all sorts of instrumental per- 
 formers striving to make as loud a noise as possible ; ' ' but this is 
 his manner of writing history. 
 
 On his return from France, after his glorious victories, and his 
 magnificent entry into London, he, according to the same historian, 
 ' ' utterly prohibited that songs should be made of his triumph, to be 
 sung by harpers, or any other whatsoever." % 
 
 In despite, however, of this proclamation, some audacious minstrel 
 actually composed a metrical romance on his conquests, which is 
 still extant, § being the same with "' The battayle of Egyngecourt," 
 likewise mentioned by Mr. Wharton, and printed by John Skot, if 
 not, also, by Wynken de Worde, both in quarto and black letter; 
 another poet of a more humble description producing a song on the 
 same victory, also in print. It is not, at the same time, at all pro- 
 bable, that the minstrels who had been required to accompany him 
 in his invasion of France, were composers or singers of romance, or 
 even performers on the harp; since, as Cassius observes, /'What 
 should the wars do with these jiging fools ? "|| 
 
 "Even so late as the time of Froissart," according to Bishop 
 Percy, " we find minstrels and ^era/tfi- mentioned together, as those 
 who might securely go into an enemy's country."^ 
 
 In The Noble History of King Ponthus, 1511, it'is said, "Than 
 beganne mynstrelles for to ^lay all manner of m.ynstrelsy, and 
 also the ;^er«?</i^« began to cry, etc." These minstrels, therefore, 
 would seem to have been the musicians of the army, or military 
 band : trum;peters, it is probable, who, in modem times, are entitled 
 to the same privilege. 
 
 Edward IV., in 1496, granted a charter, by which he in- 
 corporated Walter Haliday marshal, and seven others of his min- 
 strels, to be a fraternity or perpetual guild (such as, he understood, the 
 brothers and sisters of the fraternity of minstrels had in times past) 
 to be governed by a marshal and by two warders, who were to 
 
 * Vita Henrici quinti, p. 23. 
 
 t History of English Poetry, li., 35. 
 
 t P. 72. 
 
 § See Hearne's Appendix to Elmham , No. vi. 
 
 II Shakespeare's tragedy oi Julius Cessar, Act iv., scene 3. 
 
 IT R cliques, i. , 63. In the sixteenth year of Edward II. , William de Morlee has 
 a grant with the addition of ' ' the kings minstrel, styled, Roy de North ; and, in the 
 twelfth of his successor, Andrew Noreis, his " chier sergeamit" Andrew Noreis 
 was " roy d'armes de North. " Anstis, ii., 300. 
 
Metrical Romances. 103 
 
 admit brothers and sisters into the said guild, and are authorised 
 to examine the pretensions of all such as affected to exercise the 
 minstrel profession ; and to regulate, govern, and punish them 
 throughout the realm (those of Chester excepted).* " This," Doctor 
 Percy thinks, " seems to have some resemblance to the Earl Marshal's 
 Court among the heralds, and is another proof of the great affinity 
 and resemblance which the minstrels bore to the college of arms."t 
 
 This fraternity is never mentioned by any English historian ; and 
 it is certainly difficult to conceive for what purpose these minstrels, 
 brothers and sisters, were thus incorporated, unless they were to 
 attend the king's army, in the nature of heralds, whenever it went 
 abroad. Alexander Carlile, an officer, it would seem, of this frater- 
 nity, called " sarjaunt of the mynstrellis," came, it is said, to the king 
 as he lay in bed in the north, in the same year, in great haste, " and 
 badde hym aryse, for he had enemyes cummyng for to take him." 
 
 This gild appears to have continued down to within the reign of 
 King Henry VIII. J It would seem from the above circumstance 
 that it was the duty of a party of the minstrels to accompany the 
 king in his progresses. 
 
 The English minstrels, as they were called, though the names of 
 jestours or gestours, jogeloures, jugloures, or juglers, glewemen, 
 or gleemen, magiciens, tregetours, § disours, seggers, || fiddlilrs, 
 harpers, etc., were by no means uncommon, appear to have under- 
 gone a mutation similar to that heretofore observed in the French, the 
 names of the particular branches being confounded in that of the 
 general profession. Chaucer, as we have already seen, defines the 
 jogelour, of his own time, to be a wonder-worker, or sleight-of-hand 
 
 * Fcedera, xi., 642. t Reliques, i., xlv. | Reliques, i., xlvi. 
 
 § Tregetours are mentioned by Gower (fo. 38) : 
 
 " With sleightes of a tregetour ;" 
 
 and both tregetours and magicians by Chaucer, in The House of Fame, iii., 169. 
 Lydgate, in The Dance of Machairee, supposes Death to address thus : 
 " Maister John Rykell, sometime tregitour 
 
 Of noble Henri king of Englelond, 
 
 For all the skyghtes and tumyng of ihyne honde. 
 
 Thou must come near this dame to understonde : 
 
 For Deth shortly, nother on see nor londe, 
 
 Is not dysceyved by noon illusions." 
 
 This word is derived by Tyrwhitt from treget, deceit, imposture. 
 II These two words occiu' in Robert of Brunnes' version of The Manuel de Peche 
 " I mad nought for no disours, 
 Ne for seggers, no harpours." 
 
 Thus, too, Gower, speaking of the coronation-festival of a Roman emperor : 
 
 " When he was gladest at his mete, 
 And every minstrel had plaide 
 And every disour had saide, 
 Which most was pleasaunt to his ere." (B. 7, fo. IV.) 
 
104 Ancient English 
 
 man, as the juggler orjuglour is at present. Again, in Piers Plow- 
 man, fo. 32: 
 
 " Save Jake ^ejugloure, and Jonet of the stewes," 
 " AxiAja^ers, and juglers, and janglers*of gests." 
 
 This author, however, generally uses minstrel and gleman, as 
 synonymous. 
 
 Sir John Mandeville, describing the exhibitions he saw at the 
 court of the Grete chan, says, "Arid than comen /o^a/owrj and 
 enchantoures, that don many marvaylles, etc." 
 
 William of Nassyngton, in his prologue, warns his readers, — 
 
 " furst at the begynnyng. 
 
 That i will make na vayn car^ynge, 
 
 Oidedes of army s, ne of amours, 
 
 As dus m.ynstrallis andjestours, 
 
 That makys carpyng in many a place, 
 
 Of Octovyane t and of Isambrase, 
 
 And of many other jeestes. 
 
 And namly, when thai come to feestes." % 
 
 But though he names both minstrels and jestours, he does not 
 give them several functions ; as carding seems synonymous with 
 singing. Yet it must be admitted that Adam Davie, actually or 
 apparently, makes a distinction on this subject : 
 
 ■ "The minstrels singe, \h&jogelours caripe.'''' 
 
 In a narrative of " The departure of the princess Katherine out of 
 Spaine, together with her arival and reception in England," 1501, 
 printed in the new edition of Leland's Collectanea (V., 352), we read 
 that " she and her ladyes called for their minstrells . . . and solaced 
 themselves with the disports of dauncing. 
 
 If "mynstrells" at that period were neither "trompetts" nor 
 "sakebowtts," they were clearly instrumental musicians of no very 
 dissimilar nature.§ In the progress of the new Queen of Scotland, 
 elder daughter of Henry VII., to meet her husband in the year 
 1502-3 : " Apon the gatt [of Berwick]," as we are told by an eye- 
 
 * /anglers, which frequently occurs in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, is explained, 
 by his learned editor, a. prater or babbler, and has, therefore, no sort of connection 
 or analogy with jougelour. It is, at the same time, from the French ; as in an old 
 fabliau in the Harley MS. 2253 : 
 
 " Vus estez tenuz un janglers." 
 
 Thus, too, in Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida, v., 755, jonglerie is a corruption of 
 janglerie : 
 
 " No force of wickid tongis jonglerie." 
 
 t An abridgement of TAe Romance of Octaviaii was printed by the Aungervyle 
 Society, Series I. 
 
 X King's MSS., 17, c. viii. 
 
 § Sec Leland's Collectanea, iv., 272, 285, 
 
Metrical Romances. 105 
 
 witness, "war the Mynstraylls of the capitayn, playnge of their 
 Instruments."* "After the soupper . . . Mynstrells begonne 
 to blowe, wher daunced the qwene accompayned of my lady of 
 Surrey."! After ... the MYNSTRELLS begonne to play a basse 
 daunce; " and "after thys doon, they playde a rownde."J These, 
 it may be, were the regimental band. 
 
 It would seem that the minstrels of this era had a dress to dis- 
 tinguish their profession. The company described by the old 
 author, whose words are quoted, being seated in a tavern, " in 
 comes a noise of musicians, in tawney coats, who taking off 
 their caps, asked if they would have any MUSIC ? The widow 
 answered, No; they were merry enough. "Tut!" said the old 
 man, "let us hear, good fellows, what you can do ; and PLAY me The 
 beginning of the world."% With respect to these tawney coats, 
 it is well known to have been the livery of the Bishop of Winchester, 
 within whose manor of Southwark, and under whose patronage, 
 licence, and authority, the PUBLIC STEWS at that period flourished. 
 This circumstance is even alluded to in The First .Part of King 
 Henry VI., where the cardinal-bishop of Winchester enters "at- 
 tended by a train of servants IN TAWNY coats ; ' ' and is addressed 
 by the Duke of Gloucester : — 
 
 " Thou, that givest whores indulgences to sin. 
 Draw, men, for all this privileged place ; 
 Blue-coats to tawny coats ! " 
 
 " Winchester-goose,!! I cry, a rope ! a rope ! 
 Out, tawny-coats ! Out, scarlet hypocrite !" 
 
 Henry Chettle describes Anthony Now-Now, a famous minstrel 
 of his own time (not Anthony Munday), as " an od old fellow, low 
 of stature, his head covered with a round cap, his body with a 
 tawney coate, his legs and feete trust uppe in leather buskins, his 
 gray haires and furrowed face witnessed his age, his treble viol in 
 his hande, assured me of his profession. On which (by his con- 
 tinuall sawing having left but one string) after his best manner, hee 
 gave me a hunts-up.'"^ 
 
 The Beginning of the World appears to have been a favourite 
 tune. It is mentioned, with others, in Hejrwood and Broome's 
 tragi-comedy of 7';^e Witches of Lancashire, 1634. 
 
 * IHd., 279. 
 
 t Ibid., iv., 283. 
 
 } Ibid., 284. See also 296. 
 
 § History of Jack of Newbury, by Tho. Delony. A noise of musicians was a 
 company of them. In The Second Part of King Henry I V. one of the drawers of Tlie 
 Boars Head bids his fellow see if he can find out "Sneak's noise;" mistress 
 Tearsheet being desirous to have some music. 
 
 ] A Winchester-goose, according to Doctor Johnson, was " a strumpet, or the 
 consequences of her love." 
 
 1[ Kind-Harts Dreame, sig. B. .i. 
 
io6 Ancient English 
 
 A curious account of the minstrel romances, and their vocal and 
 instrumental performers, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, is trans- 
 mitted to us by master Puttenham, a courtier, it would seem, and in 
 his own conceit a most elegant and polished writer. 
 
 "That rime or concord is not commendably used both in the 
 end and middle of a verse . . . albeit these common rimers use it 
 much .... so on the other side doth the over-busie and too speedy 
 returne of one maner of tune, too much an annoy and as it were 
 glut the eare, unless it be in small and popular musickes song by 
 these cantabanqui upon benches and barrels heads, where they have 
 no other audience than boys or countrey-fellowes that passe by them in 
 the streete, or else by blind harpers, or such like taveme minstrels that 
 give a fit of mirth for a groat ; and their matter being for the most 
 part stories of old time, as the tale of Sir Topas, the reportes of Bevis 
 of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell, and Clymme of the 
 Clough, and such other old romances, or historicall rimes, made 
 purposely for recreation of the common people at Christmasse diners 
 and brideales, and in tavernes and alehouses, and such other places 
 of base resort."* 
 
 The rewards of the minstrels for their musical and vocal per- 
 formances appear to have been, at least on many occasions, 
 considering the superior value of money in those times, by no 
 means contemptible. In the year 1306, William Fox, and Cradock 
 his associate, for singing in the presence of the prince, and other 
 great men, being in his company at London, received 20^. The 
 minstrel of the Countess Mareschal, doing his minstrelsy before the 
 prince at Penrith, 4J.t In an annual account-roll of the Augustine 
 priory of Bicester, for the year 1431, among the Dona prtoris, is to 
 a harper, 8tf. ; to another, i2d. ; to a certain minstrel of the Lord 
 Talbot at Christmas, izd. ; to the minstrels of the Lord Strange in 
 the Epiphany, 2od. ; to two minstrels of the Lord Lovel in the 
 morrow of St. Mark, ibd. ; to the minstrels of the Duke of 
 Gloucester, in the Feast of the Nativity, 3J. /\d. ; and to a certain 
 bearward, 4^. % The Prior of Maxtoke, in Warwickshire, in various 
 years of King Henry VI., gave to a juggler in the week of 
 St. Michael, 41^. ; to a harper and other jugglers at Christmas, /\d. ; 
 to the mimes of Solihul, td. ; to those of Covenrtry, 2od. ; and at 
 another time, i2d. ; to the mime of Lord Ferrers, td. ; to the 
 mimes of the Lord Astely, i2d. ; to those of the Lord of War- 
 wick, lod.; to a blind mime, 2d., etc.§ In the time of Queen 
 Elizabeth, as we are told by Puttenham, the usual fee of a chanting 
 
 * Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie, p. 68. 
 t Warton, i., 116 ; from the Wardrobe-roll. 
 J Icle7n, i., 89. 
 ^^ Warton, i., 90. 
 
Metrical Romances. 107 
 
 harper was "a groat," which Doctor Percy seems to think no bad 
 thing.* 
 
 "Many of our old metrical romances," as Doctor Percy says, 
 "whether originally English, or translated from the French, to 
 be sung to an English audience, are addressed to persons of high, 
 rank, as appears from their beginning thus — " Listen Zor^zw^j," 
 and the like (P. Ixxxiii.) He elsewhere observes that "our 
 nobility are often addressed therein by the title of Lordings" 
 (P. ciii.). Lordings, however, by no means implies nobility, and 
 is merely equivalent to sirs or masters. Thus Chaucer' s^ar^O^^ere 
 addresses his fellow-pilgrims, who certainly were not persons of 
 high rank : 
 
 "Lordings, quod he, in chirche when i prade." 
 
 John Derrick, also, in his Image of Irelande, 1581, repeatedly 
 addresses his readers by the same title. 
 
 The like address to the auditory frequently recurs in the Chester- 
 Whifsun-plays, which appear to have been performed before an 
 immense number of people. 
 
 It has been maintained elsewhere that the minstrels, whether 
 singers or instrumental performers, were held in very little if any 
 kind of estimation. That the word m.instrel, whatever it might 
 have originally or anciently signified, meant no more, in compara- 
 tively modem times, than a fiddler, a crowder, a musician, is 
 evident from all the glossaries and dictionaries which mention them ; 
 as, for instance, those of Florio, Spelman, Cotgrave, and Blount. 
 Their true character, however, or peculiar accomplishments, will 
 sufficiently appear from the author of Piers Plowman, who com- 
 posed that work in 1362, and seems to have been very well acquainted 
 with them, and thus introduces one of this respectable fraternity, 
 speaking for himself : 
 
 " I am MYNSTRELL, quod that man, my name is Activa Vita, 
 All idle iche hate, for All-Active is my name. 
 A wafrer well ye wyt, and serve manye lordes. 
 And fewe roobes I fong, or furred gownes : 
 Can I lye to do men laughe, than lachen I should, 
 Other mantell or money, amonges lord or minstrels. 
 And for I can neither taber ne trum;pe, ne tell no gests, 
 Farten,\ ne fysten, at feastes, ne harpen, 
 
 * That this was the common price, long- after Puttenham's time, appears from 
 Jonson's Afej^we of the Metamorphosed Gipsies, 1621, where, on the introduction of 
 Cheel<s the piper, or Tom Ticklefoot the tabourer, one of the company says : -"I 
 cannot hold now, there's my groat, let's have a fit for mirth-sake." These groats 
 gave rise to the expression of fiddler's money, though, as that coin is no longer 
 current, it has since been applied to testers. 
 
 t See before, at the end of a passage .from John of Salisbury. 
 
io8 Ancient English 
 
 ya;pe, ne juggle, ne gentilly^jTS^, 
 
 Ne neither saylen, ne saute, ne jy«^ to the gyterne, 
 
 I have no good gystes of these great lordes.* " 
 
 This poor fellow, however, could do none of these things. He 
 was, in fact, a sort of cake-baker, and dealt in wafers ; but the 
 allegory cannot be easily separated from the costume. 
 
 He elsewhere (fo. 43, b) speaks of 
 
 " go&B gleman, and a game of heaven. 
 Would never the faithful father his fidle were untempered, 
 Ne his gleman a gedlyng, a goer to a tavern." 
 
 Again, fo. 7, b : 
 
 " Some chosen chaffer, they cleveden the better, — 
 And myrthes to make as mynstrelles kunneth. 
 And getten golde wyth her glee, synles I leve. 
 As japers and janglers, Judas chyldren." 
 
 Again, fo. 47, b : 
 
 " And glader then the gleman that golde heith to gyfte ; " 
 
 Again, fo. 45, b: 
 
 " Harlots for her harlotry may have of her goods, 
 And japers, a.n&juglers, anA. janglers of gestes," 
 
 Again, fo. 32 : 
 
 " Save Jake t\\Q j'ugloure, and Jonet of the stewes." 
 
 Again, fo. 26 : 
 
 " And than he go, lyke a glewemans lytch, 
 Sometyme asyde, and sometime arere." 
 
 It may be inferred from this passage that the minstrel-harpers 
 were frequently blind ; and, in fact, the phrase of " blind harper " 
 has become proverbial. So, in Cotton's Virgile travestie, B. 7 : 
 
 " Whilst a blind har;per did advance. 
 That wore queen Didos cognizance, 
 A minstrel, that Jopas hight. 
 Who played and sung to them all night." 
 
 Again, fo. 13, b : 
 
 " As common as a cart-waye to eche a knave that walketh. 
 To monkes, and to minstrels, to mesels in hedges." 
 
 It must be owned we frequently meet them in very good company. 
 The minstrels were also bag;pi^ers Thus in the Coventry 
 Corjius-Christi play : 
 
 " Ye mynstrell of myrth, blowe u^ a good blast, 
 Y Whyll i go to chawmer, and chaunge myn array." 
 
 * Fo. 68. 
 
Metrical Romances. 109 
 
 Again, in Sir David Lindsay's Satyre of the thrie estaits, 1602 
 (but written in 1539) : 
 
 " Minstrell, blaw uf ane brawl of France, 
 Let see wha hobbils best." 
 
 Again, in John He3rwood's Play of the wether : 
 " For the most part all Tna.neT mynstrelsy, 
 By wynde they delyver theyr sounde chefely, 
 Fyll me a hag^y;pe of your water full, 
 As sweetly shull it sounde, as it were stuffyd with woll." 
 
 Again, in The fo;pish kingdome, from the Latin of Thomas 
 Meogeorgus, by Bamabe Googe, 1570, fo. 56 : 
 " The table taken up they rise, and all the youth apace. 
 The minstrell with them called, go to some convenient place, 
 Where, when with bagpipe hoarce, he hath begon his music fine, 
 And unto such as are prepared to daunce hath given signe, 
 Comes thither streight, etc." 
 
 Sometimes their instruments were a drum and fife : for so Robert 
 Greene, in his Orlando fur ioso, 1594 : 
 
 " I'll be his minstrell with my drum a,nA.ffe, 
 Bid him come forth, and dance it, if he dare." 
 
 Many other instances, of the same kind, might be added, but 
 these may suffice. 
 
 Stubs, in h.i& A natom-ie of Abuses, 1583 and 1595, describes the 
 minstrels of his time as a parcel of drunken sockets and baudy para- 
 sites, "that," says he, "raunge the countries, rhyming and singing 
 of unclean, corrupt, and filthy songs in taverns, ale-houses, inns, and 
 other public assemblies. . . . There is no ship," he exclaims, "so 
 laden with merchandise, as their heads are pestered with all kinds of 
 baudy songs, filthy ballads, and scurvy rhymes, serving for every pur- 
 pose and for every company. For proof whereof," adds he, "who 
 be handier knaves than they ? who uncleaner than they ? who more 
 licentious and looser minded than they ? who more incontenent than 
 they ? and, brieflie, who more inclined to all kind of insolency and 
 leudness than they ? . . . I think that all good minstrels, sober, and 
 chaste musicians, may dance the wild Moris through an eedle eye." 
 
 This same puritanical snarler allows that, "notwithstanding it 
 were better (in respect of worldly acceptation) to be a piper, or a 
 baudie minstrel, then a divine, for the one is loved," he says, " for his 
 ribauldrie, the other hated for his gravity, wisdom, and sobriety. Every 
 town, city, and county," he adds, " is full of these minstrelles to pipe a 
 daunce to the devil ; but of devines, so few there be as any may hardly 
 be seen." It would have been much the better, indeed, if there had 
 been none at all, for certainly a piper is preferable to a parson.* 
 
 * The present Editor is not, of course, responsible for Mr. Ritson's opinions. 
 
no Ancient English 
 
 It is, at the same time, no small compliment to the minstrels of 
 former ages that, as they were, doubtless, much more active and 
 useful, they were infinitely better paid than the idle and good-for- 
 nothing clergy. 
 
 " The fraternity of the holy cross in Abingdon, in Henry the sixth's 
 time. . . . did every yeare keepe a feast, and then they used to 
 have twelve priests to sing a dirige, for which they had given them 
 foure pence a peece. They had also twelve minstrells, some from 
 Coventry, and some from Maydenhith, who had two shillings three 
 pence a piece, besides theyre dyet and horsemen. . . Observe that, 
 in those days, they payd theyre minstrells better than theyre 
 preistes." * 
 
 The employment of these minstrels may be collected from a sub- 
 sequent passage, in which the writer says that they had " pageantes, 
 and playes, and May-games to captivat the sences of the zelous 
 beholders, and to allure the people to the greater liberality." 
 Another instance of the same kind of disparity is related by 
 Warton, where four shillings were given to the six inimi, or 
 minstrels, and only two shillings to the eight priests. In the same 
 year(i44i), the prior gives no more than sixpence to a preaching 
 friar, t 
 
 "From the following entry," says Mr. Steevens, "on the books 
 of the stationers company in the year 1560, it appears that the hire 
 of a. parson was cheaper than that of a minstrel or a cook : — 
 
 " Item, payd to the preacher — ^vi s. 11 d. 
 Item, payd to the minstrell — xii s. 
 Item, payd to the coke — xv s. 
 
 {Shaks^eare, 1793, xiv., 529.) 
 
 It should be remembered, at the same time, that the parson's 
 business would be finished in an hour, whereas the cook and the 
 minstrel would be employed the whole of the day, and peradventure 
 all night too. 
 ^ The only genuine minstrel-ballads which are known to exist at 
 present (except such as may have been published with great in- 
 accuracy and licentiousness by the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop 
 of Dromore, or remain concealed in his lordship's folio manuscript)^ 
 are The Ancient battle of Chevy -chace, The battle of Otterbourne, 
 fohn Dory, Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard, Lord Thomas 
 and fair Eleanor, and Fair Margaret and sweet William, to 
 which one may possibly venture to add John Armstrong, and 
 Captain Care ; all which are somewhere or other in print. 
 
 A singular and whimsical writer, named Robert Laneham, or 
 Langham, a Nottinghamshire gentleman, who appears to have 
 accompanied Elizabeth in some of her progresses, as " dark of the 
 councel chamber door," in a letter: "whearin part of the enter- 
 
 * Liber Niger, p. 598. f H'. P- 106. J Since published. 
 
Metrical Romances. iii 
 
 tainment untoo the Queenz Majesty at Killingworth castle, in 
 Warwick Sheer, in this soomery progrest, 1575, iz signified : from 
 a freend officer attendant in the coourt, unto hiz freend (Master 
 Humfrey Martin, mercer) a citizen and merchant of London," and 
 there printed in the above year, in a small volume in a black-letter, 
 gives the following curious narrative of " a ridiculous devise of an 
 auncient minstrell and his song," which " waz prepared to have 
 been profferd, if meete time and place had been foound for 
 IT ; " so that this intended exhibition (in flat contradiction to doctor 
 Percy's misrepresented account) did not actually take place ; but, as 
 good luck would have it, " 0ns, in a woorshipful company, whear, 
 full appointed, he recoounted his matter in sort az it should have 
 been uttered," master Langham, in person, " shaunsed to bee ; and 
 what i noted," says he, " heer this i tell yoo. A parson very meet 
 seemed he for the purpose ; of a xlv. years olid, apparelled partly as 
 he woold himself : Hiz cap of hiz hed seemly rounded tonster-wyze ; 
 sayr kembd, that with a spoonge devoutly dipt in a little caponz 
 greas, was finelye smoothed to make it shine like a mallards wing ; 
 hiz beard smugly shaven ; and yet his shyrt after the nu trink, with 
 nrffs fayr starched, sleeked, and glistering like a payr of nu shooz : 
 marshalld in good order : with a stetting stick, and stoout that 
 every ruff stood up like a wafer. A side gooun of Kendal green, 
 after the freshness of the year now ; gathered at the neck with a 
 narro gorget fastened afore with a white clasp and a keepar close 
 up to the chin, but easily for heat to undoo when he list : seemly 
 begyrt in a red caddiz gyrdle ; from that, a payr of capped Sheffeld 
 knivez hanging a to side : out of his bozom draune foorth a lappet 
 of his napkin, edged with a blu lace, and marked with a truloove, 
 a hart, and A.D. for Damian, for he was but a bachelar yet. 
 
 " His gooun had syde sleevez dooun to midlegge, slit firom the 
 shooulder too the hand, and lined with white cotton. His dooblet 
 sleevez of blak woorsted : upon them a payr of poynets of tawny 
 chamblets, laced along the wreast w)rth blu threeden points : a wealt 
 toward the hand of fustian anapes : a payr of red neather stocks : 
 a payr of pumps on hiz feet, with a cross cut at the toze for cornz ; 
 not nu indeede, yet cleanly blakt, with soot and shining az a shoing 
 horn. About his neck a red rebond sutable to his girdl : his harp 
 in good grace dependaunt before him ; his wreast tyed to a green 
 lace and hanging by: Under the gorget of his goound a fayr flagon 
 cheyn of pewter (for sylver;) as a squire minstrel of Middlesex^ 
 that travaild the cuntree thys soomer season unto fayrz, and woor- 
 shipful menz houzez. From his cheyn hoong schoochiar with 
 metall and cooler resplendant upon hiz breast of the auncient 
 armes of Islington . . . ." (Then follows an absurd and affected 
 description of these arms, evidently the sole manufacture of master 
 Laneham, or some other coxcomb of the same turn .... This 
 being ridiculed by "a good fello of the company") "every man 
 
Ancient English 
 
 laught a good, saue the minstrell : that thoogh THE FOOL wear 
 made privy all was but for sport, yet to see himself thus crost with 
 a contrary kue that he lookt not for, woold straight have ge'en over 
 all, waxt very wayward, eager and soour ; hoowbeit at laste, by sum 
 entreaty, and many fair woordz, with sak and suger, we sweetned 
 him againe : and after he became az mery as a py. Appeerez then 
 afresh in hiz ful formalitie with a louely loock. After three lowlie 
 cooursiez, cleered his vois with a hem and reach, and spat oout 
 withal ; wiped hiz lips with the hollo of his hand for syling his 
 napkin, temperd a string or too with his wreast, and after a little 
 warbling on hiz harp for a prelude, came foorth with a soUem song, 
 warraunted for story oout of King Arthurs acts; the first booke 
 and 26 chapter ; whearof i gate a copy : and that iz this, viz. : 
 
 ' So it befell upon a Pentecost day,' etc. 
 
 At this the minstrel made a pauz and a curtezy, for primus pastus 
 {fassus). More of the song iz thear, but i gat it not. Az for the 
 matter, had it cum to the sheaw, i think the fello would have handled 
 it well ynoough." 
 
 The poor fellow thus brought forward to represent, and even to 
 ridicule, the respectable character of an ancient minstrel, may be 
 readily admitted to have been himself a humble retainer to that once 
 illustrious profession. This appears by his being able to accompany 
 his song with the melody of the harp. He was, therefore, it is likely, 
 one of those " caniabanqui upon benches and barrels' heads, where 
 they had no other audiences then boys or coun trey-fellows," as 
 already described by Puttenham ; or else one of his "taverne- 
 minstrels that (used to) give a fit of mirth for a groat." Our critic, 
 however, finds no fault with his performance, and even pays him a 
 sort of parting compliment. It is sufficiently manifest, at the same 
 time, from this identical narrative, that there was, at the above 
 period, no minstrel performer distinguished by his dress or manners, 
 as the real or accurate representative of a minstrel of the three pre- 
 ceeding centuries, who would, in the puritanical times of that bigoted 
 and bloody tigress, have been treated with merited respect. 
 
 By an act of the 39th of Queen Elizabeth (1597), chap, iv., intitled 
 " An act for punishment of rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars," 
 "All bearwards, common players of enterluds, and MINSTRELS, 
 wandering abroad ; all juglers, tinkers, pedlers, &c. shall be 
 adjudged and deemed rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggers," 
 subject, however, to a proviso or exception in favour of John Button, 
 of Button, in the county of Chester, esquire, "for any liberty, 
 preheminence, authority, jurisdiction," which he then lawMly used, 
 " by reason of any ancient charters or of any prescription, usage or 
 title whatsoever." * 
 
 * This clause continued to be inserted in all vagrant acts down to the present 
 reign, in which it has been omitted. 
 
Metrical Ro^nances. 113 
 
 This statute is concluded to have nearly put an end to the pro- 
 fession of minstrel, base and beggarly as it had become, an ordinance 
 during the usurpation in 1656 being the last public notice that is 
 taken of it, whereby it is enacted that if any of the "persons com- 
 monly called FIDLERS or MINSTRELS shall be taken playing, fidling, 
 and making music in any inn, ale-house, or tavern, or proffering 
 themselves, or desiring, or intreating, any to hear them play or 
 make music," they are to be " adjudged and declared to be rogues, 
 vagabonds and sturdy beggars." 
 
 " Then, for the truth's sake, come along, come along ! 
 Leave this place of superstition, 
 Were it not for me, that the brethren be. 
 You would sink into perdition." * 
 
 Shakespeare calls these persons " feast-finding minstrels " in his 
 Raj^e of Lucrece; and Ben Jonson, in his Tale of a Tub, introduces 
 " Old Father Rosin, chief minstrel of Highgate, and his two boys." 
 They 3x& fiddlers, and play the tunes called for by the company, as 
 Tom Tiler, The folly foiner, and The Jovial Tinker. The same 
 dramatist, in his Masque of the Metamorphosed Gypsies, calls a 
 bagpifer, or tabor er, "the miracle of m.instrels," and, in another 
 part, makes one of the characters say, "The king has his noise of 
 gypsies, as well as of bearwards, and other minstrels." So 
 that, of whatever consequence they might have been in ancient 
 periods, they ended their career as vagabonds and fiddlers. Doctor 
 Bull, who wrote satirical verses against them (which, though extant 
 in one of the Harleian manuscripts, cannot be recovered), pays them 
 the following parting compliment : — 
 
 "When Jesus went to Jairus house, 
 (Whose daughter was about to dye,) 
 He turned the minstrels out of doors, 
 Among the rascal company : 
 Beggers they are with one consent, 
 And rogues, by act of parliament." 
 
 * Loyal Songs, i., 5. 
 
METRICAL ROMANCES. 
 
 YWAINE AND GAWIN. 
 
 The original of this romance is that of " Le chevalier au lion,'" 
 by Crestien, or Christian, de Troyes, an eminent French poet, who 
 died in iigi. That original, which is still extant, though not in this 
 country, consists of 7784 verses. See the Bibliotheque universelle 
 des romans, Avril, 1772, ^premier volume, p. 95. It is presumed 
 to be the same with that which Du Fresnoy calls " Le roman 
 d'Yvain, in folio, manuscrit." 
 
 This Ywaine, Ewen, or Owen, was the son of Urian, the brother 
 of Augusel, king of Albania, now Scotland, and of Lot, the consul 
 of Loudonesia, being himself honoured by king Arthur with the 
 sceptre of Murray, according to that veracious historian, Geoffrey 
 of Monmouth, who calls him Eventus : Augusel, king of Albania, 
 he says, who fell in the battle of Camblan \_anno 542], was succeeded 
 in his kingdom by Eventus, his brother Urian's son, who afterward 
 performed many famous exploits in these wars." (B. 11, C. i). In 
 Mart d' Arthur he is called Ewen as blanches mains. 
 
 The Welsh have the story of Ouen ab Yrien, in their own 
 language ; but whether an original, or a translation from the French 
 or English, cannot be ascertained. See Lloyd's MSS. Britan. 
 Cata. (Archffiologia Britan. P. 265.) He is mentioned, however, by 
 Taliesfin and Ll)rsvarch Hen, two celebrated British bards, of the 
 sixth century ; both of them his contemporaries, and the latter, his 
 relation. [Ibi. P. 259, 264 ; Lewis's History of Great Britain, 
 P. 201, &c. ; and " Heroic Elegies &c, of Llywarch Hen," P. 29, 
 &c.) Urien, the father of Owen, petty king or prince of Reged in 
 Cumbria, a little kingdom, part of England and the south-west of 
 modem Scotland, was treacherously slain about the year 567. He 
 was one of the greatest encouragers of the bards of his age. Owen, 
 his son, is celebrated in the ancient Welsh Triades, a composition, 
 it is pretended, of the seventh century, as one of " The three blessed 
 
ii6 Ancient English 
 
 princes of the isle of Britain," and one of " The three blessed burdens 
 of the womb of the isle of Britain." The name of his bard was 
 Dygynelw, one of the three "who tinged spears with blood" (Lly. 
 Hen, P. xix.) In a curious fragment of the life of St. Kentegem, 
 written by an unnamed author, at the instance of Herbert bishop of 
 Glasgow ( 1 147 to 1 164), the lover of that saint's mother is pointed 
 out in these words: " Erat namque ^rocus ejus juvenis quidam 
 elegantissimus, Ewen videlicet, filius Erwegende, nobilissima Brito- 
 num. prosa^ia ortus .... In gestis hystrionum vocatur Ewen fiUus 
 Ulien [r. Urien]." ( Vitce SS. qui habitaverunt in Scotia, p. 203.) 
 Kentegem, who was born about 516, is, in the Welsh pedigrees, 
 made the son of this Ewen or Owain, the son of Urien : so that he 
 would seem to have come into the world before his father, no unusual 
 anticipation in Welsh pedigrees. (See Owen's account of Llywarch 
 Hen, &c.) Carte, speaking of Ida, king of Northumberland, says, 
 " He was slain in battle by Owen, son of Urian Rheged, as Taliessin 
 says in an elegy which he composed upon the death of this gallant 
 Britain, to whose bravery, vigilance, and conduct, his country had 
 been chiefly indebted for its defence and security." (History of 
 England, I, 209.)' The actual existence, therefore, of these two 
 persons seems unquestionable. Urien \_Urbgen'\ is mentioned by 
 Nennius, or his interpolator, C. 64 : and this misnomer seems to 
 have given birth to the " Urbgennius Badonensis" of Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth. 
 
 King Urience, in the old romance of \Mort d^ Arthur, is the 
 husband of Morgan le fay (half-sister to king Arthur), who un- 
 naturally attempts to kill him sleeping ; but is prevented by their 
 son sir Ewaine.^ Now, it seems, the death of Urien was actually 
 procured by the instigation of Morgant Mwynvaur, another of the 
 four princes of Cumbria. Urien' s wife, however, was not the sister 
 of Arthur, but Madron., daughter oi Avallach. Owain himself was 
 twice married, first to Penarwen, daughter of Cul VanawydPrydain, 
 and, secondly, to Denyw, daughter of Llewddyn Luyddawg of 
 Edinburgh : according to what the literary Welsh idiots publish, in 
 the eighteenth century, as authentic history ; and which Geoffrey of 
 Monmouth, lyar as he was, would have disdained to retail in the 
 twelfth. See the Life of Llywarch Hen, prefixed to his "Heroic 
 elegies^ &c." P. vii. 
 
 Gawain, called, by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Wdlganus, was 
 another nephew of Arthur, being the son of Lot of Loudonesia, the 
 
 • The death of Ida is placed by the Saxon chronicle in 560 ; but it does not 
 appear, from that authority, to have happened in battle. Thepretended antiquities 
 of the Welsh abound w;ith imaginary victories. 
 
 ' The old romance of Merlin, {vo. I, fo. 116.) calls Yvain a bastard, son, it adds, 
 to king Urien, whom he begot on the wife of his seneschal, who was of such great 
 beauty that for the love of her he forgot his wife, and left her for more than five 
 years, and held her in his castle in spite of his steward so long that he begot this 
 child : but all this is scandal. 
 
Metrical Romances. 117 
 
 nephew and successor of Sichelin, king of the Norwegians, who had 
 married Anne his sister. According, however, to Mori d' Arihur, 
 when Uther-Pendragon married the lady Igrayne (or Igerna\ the 
 widow of Gorlois, " king Lot of Lowthan and of Orkeny then weded 
 Margawse [one of her three daughters by Gorlois], that was Gawayns 
 mother." (Part i, C. 3.) This Gawain, or Walwenus, as we learn 
 from William of Malmesbury, reigned in that part of Britain which 
 is called Walviertka, and his burying-place was found in the time 
 of king William I. in the province of Ros, in Wales, upon the 
 margin of the sea, being fourteen feet long ; ' he having, as was 
 asserted by some, been wounded by enemies, and cast up by ship- 
 wreck ; or, hy others, been killed, by the citizens, at a public feast. 
 [De gestis regum, L. i.) He appears to have been highly cele- 
 brated. His death, of course, is otherwise represented by the old 
 romancers, who were not particularly conversant with William of 
 Malmesbury. 
 
 Sir Ewaine and sir Gawain were sincere friends ; and, when the 
 latter knew that sir Ewaine was banished from court by king Arthur, 
 on suspicion that he was of council with his mother Morgan, who 
 was constantly practising treason against that monarch, he accom- 
 panied him into banishment. See Mort d' Arthur, P. i, C. 75. 
 
 The only ancient copy of the present poem is contained in the 
 Cotton MS. Galba E. IX. which seems to have been written in the 
 time of Richard II., or toward the close of the fourteenth century; 
 and not, as appeared to Warton, who knew nothing of the age of 
 MSB. and probably never saw this, " in the reigfn of king Henry the 
 sixth" (III, P. 108). The language of all the poems in this MS. 
 is a strong northern dialect, from which it may be reasonably 
 inferred that they are the composition of persons, most likely 
 monks, resident in that part of England, where, in former times, 
 were several flourishing monasteries. One singularity of this MS. 
 is that the y is generally used at the commencement of a syllable 
 for /A, instead of the Saxon p [properly t>], (as Yai, yat, ye, &c. for 
 thai, that, the, &c.) which sometimes, though rarely, occurs : a 
 singularity which is still in use for the abbreviations y*, y'', y", &:c. 
 The letter z also is frequently used for y consonant at the beginning 
 of a syllable." These, however, have not been retained, though 
 the ancient orthography is carefully preserved in every other 
 respect. 
 
 ' This seems the established size of an ancient hero. " In Murray-land," accord- 
 ing to that most veracious historian maister Hector Bois, " is the kirke of Pette, 
 quhare the banis of lytili, Johne remanis in gret admiratioun of pepill. He hes 
 bene fourtene fut of hycht, with square membris efifering theirto." (Historie of 
 Scotland, translatit be maister Johne Bellenden, Edin. fo. b. 1.) 
 
 ' It may be proper to observe here, once for all, that in the MSS. made use of in 
 this collection, and most others in English of the same age, this letter or character 
 *, beside its usual pronunciation, as in graniz, is used with the powers oiy con- 
 sonant, and gh, as in ze, zing, rizt, knytik, &c, and, to avoid a false or equivocal 
 
ii8 Ancient English 
 
 The present, or some other, romance on the story of sir Ywain, 
 may possibly have been printed, though no copy of it is known 
 to be preserved. In Wedderburn's Com^lainte of Scotlande, St. 
 Andrews, 1549, among the " storeis " or " flet taylis," rehearsed by 
 the shepherds, whereof " sum vas in prose and sum vas in verse," 
 we meet with " The tail of syr Euan, Arthours knycht." See also 
 the adventures of sir Percival in Mori d' Arthur. 
 
 A romance of "Syr Gawayne," mentioned in 'La.n.eha.m' s Letter 
 from KilHngworth, 1575, was " Impiynted at London in Paules 
 churcheyarde at the sygne of the Maydens heed by Thomas Petyt " 
 (4to. b. 1.) It was in six-line stanzas, but no more than the last 
 leaf is known to be preserved. " A jeste of syr Gawayne," probably 
 the same book, was licensed to John Kynge, in 1557-8. Two other 
 romances on the same subject, but in a dialect and metre peculiar 
 to Scotland, are printed in Pinkerton's Scotish ;poems ; the one from 
 an edition at Edinburgh in 1508 ; the other from a MS. the property 
 of the present editor, which the said Pinkerton came by very 
 dishonestly. 
 
 The history of Ywaine seems to have been popular in the north. 
 In the library of Stockholm is a MS. intitled " Sagan af Ivent 
 Eingland ka^^e : Historia de Ivento regis Arturi in Anglia 
 j>ugile inter magnates carissimo : continens ejus cum gigantibus 
 atque'Siaxn.sinm.s plurima atque ^ericulosa certafnina. Cap. 12." 
 {Hickesii Thesaurus, III, 315). Two modem copies of the same, 
 or a similar article (" Artur kongs og Iventi saga," and " Ivents 
 saga"), expressly from the French (" Von Franseysen i Nor- 
 resnu"), are in the B. Museum (Sloane's MSS. 4857, 4859). The 
 sig, or tale, of herr Ywan und herr Gawan, was extant in German 
 in the year 1450. [Sym-bolcs ad literaturam Teuto. HaunicB,i']%^ 
 4to, P. xxxvi.) 
 
 YWAINE AND GAWIN.' 
 
 Almyghti god that made mankyn. 
 
 He schilde his servandes out of syn. 
 
 And mayntene tham, with might and mayne, 
 
 That herkens Ywayne and Gawayne : 
 
 pronunciation, those letters, in the proper instances, have been substituted in its 
 place. Though, probably, a corruption of the Saxon S, it never, as some pretend, 
 had the power of that letter in old English ; which is the more evident from the 
 words zef, zong. Sec. being in contemporary MSS. actually written with a ^, as 
 ye/, yong. 
 
 ' The MS. reads " Here begynr, Ywaine and Gawin." 
 
Metrical Romances, 119 
 
 Thai war knightes of the tabyl rownde, 
 Tharfore listens a lytel stownde. 
 Arthur, the kyng of Y)ragland,' 
 That wan al Wales with his hand, 
 
 ' This monarch was the son of Uther-Pendragon, king of Britain, by Igerna, the 
 beautiful wife of Gorlois, dulte of Cornwall, into whose semblance (like another 
 Jupiter) he was metamorphosed, by a miracle of the enchanter Merlin. Gorlois 
 being slain in battle by the king's troops, while the monarch himself was passing 
 his time with Igerna, they were shortly afterwards united in the bands of holy wed- 
 lock. Arthur, having succeeded his father, conquers the Saxons, Picts and Scots ; 
 adds to his government Ireland, Iceland, Gothland, and the Orkneys ; subdues 
 Norway, Dacia, Aquitain, and Gaul ; and even the Romans.* But, hearing, upon 
 his march to Rome, that his nephew Modred, or Mordred, whom he had left vice- 
 gerent, had, by tyrannical and treasonable practices, set the crown upon his own 
 head, and that his queen Guanhumara, or Guenever, was wickedly married to this 
 undutifiil relation, he returned with speed to Britain ; and, after a dreadful engage- 
 ment, in which Modred was slain, being himself mortally wounded, and carried to 
 the isle of Avalon (now Glastonbiuy) to be cured of his hurts, he resigned the crown 
 in favour of his kinsman Constantine, the son of Cador, duke of Cornwall, in the 
 year 543. Such, at least, is the accoimt given by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in the 
 British history, which he professes to have translated from a very ancient book in 
 that tongue, brought out of Armorica, and presented to him for the purpose by 
 Walter \Calenius^ archdeacon of Oxford, in or about the year 1138. It is unques- 
 tionably fabulous and romantic ; but that "Arthur was merely a name given by 
 the Welsh to Aurelius Ambrosius," or that " the Arthur of Welsh history is a non- 
 existence," as asserted by the author of " An enquiry into the history of Scotland " 
 (I, 76), is a much more impudent and unqualified falsehood than any in that book. 
 That he was a brave warrior, and, in all probability, a petty king, is manifest from 
 authentic history, which this mendacious impostor pretends to have consulted. 
 See Nennius, C. 61 ; William of Malmesbury, De gestis regum, Anglorum, L. i ; 
 Henry of Huntingdon, Historic, L. 2 ; Vita S. Gilda, fer Caradocum Llancar- 
 vanensem, among the king's MSS. 13 B VII ; and Carte's history of England, I, 
 202.. Of these authors Nennius was dead three hundred years, at least, before the 
 publication of The British history,* which the monk of Malmesbury never saw, nor 
 the archdeacon of Huntingdon tiU after he had published his ovim. Caridoo, also, 
 a contemporary writer, certainly borrows nothing from Geoffrey ; and Carte, though 
 a modem, seems to have made use of good materials. His septdchre, if we may 
 believe Girald Barry, sumamed Camirensis, who professes to have seen the cross 
 and bones found therein, was discovered at Glastonbury in the reign of king Henry II. 
 — after that monarch's death. He has been the subject of innumerable romances, 
 as well French as Welsh and English ; and old songs, in the time of Malmesbury, 
 fabled that he was yet to come. % 
 
 That there were stories, and perhaps romances and ballads, upon the subject of 
 
 • The French, or English, romance supposes him to come to Rome, and be there " crowned 
 emperor by the pope's own hands." Mart d^ Arthur-, P. l, C. gg. 
 
 t The writer abeady mentioned has the impudence to assert " that the chapter on Arthur 
 is not of Nemiius, but an addition taken from Geoffrey's romance ; " the falsehood of which 
 latter assertion will be manifest to every one who consults the two books ; and, it is universally 
 admitted, that Samuel, the interpolator of Nennius, was nearly of the same age . 
 
 ; An interpolator of the Scotichronicon observes that " because in the monasterial church 
 of Glasinberi he is say'd to be buryd with this sort of epitaph, 
 
 Hicjacei Arthttrus, rex quondam atque futurus, 
 it is believe'd by the vulgar that he still lives, and, as is sung in comedys, is hereafter to come 
 
Ancient English 
 
 And al Scotland, als sayes the buke,' 
 
 And mani mo, if men will luke, lo 
 
 Of al knightes he bare the pryse, 
 
 In werld was non so war ne wise ; 
 
 Trew he was in alkyn thing, 
 
 Als it b3rfel to swilk a kyng. 
 
 He made a feste, the soth to say, 
 
 Opon the Witsononday, ^ 
 
 At Kerdyf, that es in Wales,' 
 
 And, efter mete, thar in the hales, 
 
 Ful grete and gay was the assemble, 
 
 Of lordes and ladies of that cuntre, 20 
 
 Arthur, in the Welsh language, anterior to the pubhcation of Geoffrey's British 
 history, is manifest, not only from that very worlc, where he says "cum etgesta 
 eorum [Arthurii, scilicet, &c.] & multis fopulis quasi inscripta mentUus et jucunde 
 et memoriter predicantur ;" but also from William of Malmesbury : "Hie est 
 Arthurus de quo Brittonuvi nugts hodieque delirant," Maisire Wace, likewise, a. 
 writer of the same age or century, says, 
 
 " Mst Artur la ronde table, 
 Dunt Breton dient meinte fable." 
 Even WiUiam of Newbrough allows that the fables of Arthur in Geoffrey's history 
 were partly taken " ex priscis Britonum Jigmentis." Nothing of this kind, how- 
 ever, appears to be now extant. 
 
 ' The book alluded to is probably Geoifrey of Monmouth's British history, which 
 gave rise, within a very short period, to a multitude of voluminous romances on the 
 subject of Arthur. The phrase, however, is common in the old French histories of 
 the round table, &c. in which a chapter is frequently introduced with ' ' Or diet le 
 compie, &c." So, likewise, in La mart d' Arthur : " And as the boke telleth, &c.'' 
 or, sometimes, "As the French booke saith." 
 
 2 It was the custom of the ancient monarchs of France and England, to hold 
 what was then called a cour pleaiere, or plenairy court, at the three principal feasts 
 of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas ; at which they were attended by the earls 
 and barons of the kingdom, their ladies, and children j who dined at the royal 
 table with great pomp and eclat ; minstrels flocking thither from all parts j justs 
 and tournaments being performed, and various other kinds of divertisement, which 
 lasted several days. A very elaborate description of the coronation of king Arthur, 
 at the feast of Pentecost, is given by Geoflfrey of Monmouth (B. ix, C. xii) ; which 
 has served as a model to his successors ; and the ceremony is frequently noticed 
 by our early historians, as Roger Hoveden, Matthew Paris, &c. &c. It is, of 
 course, still more common in the old romances. 
 
 ' Now Cardiff, in Glamorganshire. 
 
 to restore the dispersed and exiled^ Britons to their own." (Hearne's edition, P. 218.) This 
 tradition is mentioned by Girald and other old writers ; but the epitaph found at Glastonbury 
 is very different, and the cross delineated by Camden, if not the whole transaction, a palpable 
 forgery. Cervantes, upon whatever authority, makes don Quixote report, as an ancient and 
 connnon tradition in the whole kingdom of Great-Britain, that king Arthur did not die, but, 
 by art of enchantment, was converted into a crow ; and that, in process of time, he is to return 
 again to retgn, and recover his kingdom and sceptre ; for which reason, he adds, it cannot be 
 proved that since that time any Englishman hath ever killed a crow." (Part 1, chap. 13.) 
 The French have an old MS. intitled " Roman d! Artur le Rethori " (i.e. le restanri : Arthur 
 restored, or revived). 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 And als of knyghtes war and wyse, 
 
 And damisels of mykel pryse ; 
 
 Ilkane with other made grete gamin, 
 
 And grete solace, als thai war/amin ; i 
 
 Fast thai carped and curtaysly, 
 
 Of dedes of armes and of veneri. 
 
 And of gude knightes that lyfed then, 
 
 And how men might tham kyndeli ken, 
 
 By doghtines of thaire gude dede, 
 
 On ilka syde wharesum thai yede : 30 
 
 For thai war stif in ilka stowre, 
 
 And tharfore gat thai grete honowre. 
 
 Thai tald of more trewth tham bitwene,' 
 
 Than now omang men here es sene ; 
 
 For trowth and luf es al bylaft, 
 
 Men uses now another craft ; 
 
 With worde men makes it trew and stabil, 
 
 Bot in thair faith es noght bot fabil ; 
 
 With the mowth men makes it hale, 
 
 Bot trew trowth es nane in the tale. 40 
 
 Tharfore her-of now wil i blyn. 
 
 Of the kyng Arthur i wil bygin, 
 
 And of his curtayse cumpany, 
 
 That^ was the flowr of chevallry ; 
 
 Swilk lose thai wan with speres horde, 
 
 Over al the werld went the worde. 
 
 After mete went the kyng 
 Into chamber to slepeing, 
 And also went with him the queue,' 
 That byheld thai al-bydene, 50 
 
 ' In the MS. this word reads " Hiwne.'' 
 
 ' In the MS. this word reads " ihar. " 
 
 ' Guenever, in the old French romances, is the daughter of king Leodegrance of 
 the land of Cameliard. Geoffrey of Monmouth calls her Guanhumara* and says 
 she was descended from a noble family of Romans ; had been educated under 
 duke Cador ; and in beauty surpassed all the women in the island (B. 9, C. 9). 
 According to this author, during Arthur's absence in Gaul or Italy, she married his 
 nephew Mordred (whom the romance also makes his son f) ; they having been left 
 joint-regents of the kingdom by Arthur ; upon whose return she fled from York to 
 Chester, where she resolved to lead a chaste life, among the nuns, in the church of 
 Julius the martyr, and enter herself one of their order. The romance, however, 
 supposes her to have taken refuge in the tower of London, which was besieged by 
 Mordred ; and to have, afterward, become a nun of Ambresbury, J where she died. 
 
 * Guenureui, Winifred. Lloyd, P. 255. 
 
 t By his sister Margawse, the wife of king Lot, whom he did not, however, at the time 
 know to be so. i. du lac, tome 3, fo. 16, b. 
 
 t The French romance oiLemmcelot does not name the nunnery to which the queen retired, 
 and only says it was near London. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 For thai saw tham never so 
 
 On high dayes to chamber go ; 
 
 Bot sone when thai war went to sle^e,^ 
 
 Knyghtes sat the dor to kepe, 
 
 Sir Dedyne, and sir Segramore,'' 
 
 Sir Gawayn, and sir Kay, sat there,' 
 
 And also sat thar sir Ywaine, 
 
 And Colgrevance of mekyl mayn.* 
 
 This knight that hight Colgrevance 
 
 Tald his felows of a chance, 60 
 
 And of a stowr he had in bene. 
 
 And al his tale herd the quene ; 
 
 The chamber-dore she has unshet, 
 
 And down omang tham scho hir set ; 
 
 Sodainli sho sat down right, 
 
 Or ani of tham of hir had sight ; 
 
 Bot Colgrevance rase up in hy. 
 
 And thar-of had syr Kay envy, 
 
 For he was of his tong a skalde, 
 
 And forto boste was he ful balde. 70 
 
 and whence she was brought, by sir Lancelot, her former paramour, then a priest, 
 and his eight fellows, to Glastonbury, to be there interred in one and the same 
 tomb with the king her husband. It appears from the inscription on the cross 
 mentioned by Girald Barry, as found with her and her husband's remains, to have 
 been Arthur's second wife : and the Welsh antiquaries, never deficient in absurdity, 
 assert him to have had three wives, all of the name of Guenever.* We know, at 
 the same time, from better authority, that she was actually violated and ravished 
 by Melvas, king of Estiva, or Somersetshire, and taken to Glastonbury, as a place 
 of security, which Arthur besieged for a twelvemonth, till, by the mediation of 
 the abbot, and Gildas, surnamed sapiens, she was peaceably restored. See the life 
 of St. Gildas, by Carddoc of Lancarvan (MSS. regia, 13 B VII). He calls her 
 Guennimar. This Melvas, in all likeUhood, is the Meleagant of the old French 
 romance, who achieves the queen in single combat with sir Kay, and carries them 
 both off to his father's castle. In La mart d' Arthur, where the story is differently 
 related, he is called Meliagrarue. He was, afterward, slain by sir Lancelot. 
 
 1 This word is illegible in the MS. 
 
 2 Sir Dedyne is probably the same with Dynadam or Dinadan , surnamed de 
 Estranger, one of the knights of the round table. 
 
 Sagremors le desree, or Segramour le desirous, was also a knight of the round 
 table, and is to be met with in Lancelot du lac. Mart d' Arthur, &c. 
 
 3 This sir Kay, the Caius senesckallus of Geoffrey of Monmouth, or sire Keux 
 le seneschall of the old French romances, was the son of sir Ector, or A uthon, young 
 Arthur's tutor, and was, of course, that king's foster-brother. He has the same 
 character in Mort d' Arthur (P. i, C. 120, &c.) and is elsewhere called to his face 
 ' ' the shamefuUest knight of his tongue " that was then living in the world. 
 
 ■" So, in Mort d' Arthur, where he is said to be a knight of the round table. In 
 the French romance of Lancelot du lac, he is called Gallogrenant. In the former 
 book (P. 3, C. 80), he is slain by sir Lionell ; the sir Colgrevance of Gore, slain by 
 sir Lancelot, in C. 145, being, apparently, a different person. 
 
 • See Prisei Historia Brit, de/ensio, P. 134, and Lewis's History of Britain, P. 185. 
 
Metrical Romances. 123 
 
 Ow, Colgrevance, said sir Kay, 
 
 Ful light of lepes has thou bene ay, 
 
 Thou wenes now that the sal fall, 
 
 For to be hendest of us all ; 
 
 And the quene sal understand, 
 
 That her es none so unkunand ; 
 
 Al if thou rase, and we sat styll, 
 
 We ne dyd it for none yll, 
 
 Ne for no maner of fayntise, 
 
 Ne for us denyd noght forte rise, 80 
 
 That we ne had resen had we hyr sene. 
 
 Sir Kay, i wote wele, sayd the quene. 
 
 And it war gnde thou left swilk sawes. 
 
 And noght despise so thi felawes. 
 
 Madame, he said, by goddes dome,' 
 We ne wist no thing of thi come ; 
 And if we did noght curtaysly. 
 Takes to no velany ; 
 Bot pray ye now this gentil man. 
 To tel the tale that he bygan. 90 
 
 Colgrevance said to sir Kay, 
 Bi grete god, that aw this day, 
 Na mar moves me thi flyt 
 Than it war a flies byt ; 
 Ful oft wele better men than i 
 Has thou desspised desspytusely ; 
 It es ful semeli, als me think, 
 A brok omang men forto stynk ; 
 So it fars by the, syr Kay, 
 
 Of weked wordes has thou bene ay, 100 
 
 And sen thi wordes er wikked and fell. 
 This time tharto na mor i tell, 
 Bot of the thing that i bygan. 
 And sone sir Kay him answerd than. 
 
 » Oaths are frequent throughout these poems, and in most kinds of ancient poetry ; 
 being, manifestly, in common use amongst our ancestors, and even with young 
 ladies, and princesses of the blood-royal ; by all of whom, it is presumed, they 
 were regarded as perfectly innocent. Our ancient monarchs had their peculiar 
 oaths : William the conqueror usually swore, By the resurrection of God ; William 
 the red. By God's face, By the holy face of saint Luke ; John, by the feet of the 
 Lord ; Henry the third, By God's head ; Edward the first, By the blood of God 
 As the Lord liveth ; Edward the third. By God's soul ; Edward the fourth. By 
 God's blessed lady ; Richard the third, By saint Paul ; Henry the eighth was 
 by no means sparing ; and his daughter Elizabeth had By God in her mouth as 
 frequently as a fishwoman. Chaucer's fellow-pilgrims have their several oaths, 
 which are accurately enumerated by the historian of Enghsh poetry : see volume II, 
 Sig. f 3. Oaths and curses, in fact, are, at this day, common to most nations in 
 the world, as they were, formerly, to the Greeks and Romans. 
 
124 Ancient English 
 
 And said ful tite unto the quene, 
 
 Madame, if ye had noght her bene, 
 
 We sold have herd a selly case. 
 
 Now let ye us of our solace ; 
 
 Tharfor, madame, we wald yow pray. 
 
 That ye cumand him to say, I lo 
 
 And tel forth als he had tyght. 
 
 Than answerd that hende knight. 
 
 Mi lady es so avys4. 
 
 That scho wil noght cumand me, 
 
 To tel that towches me to ill, 
 
 Scho es noght of so waked will. 
 
 Sir Kai said than, ful smertli, 
 
 Madame, al hale this cumpani 
 
 Praies yow hertly, now omell, 
 
 That he his tale forth might tell ; 120 
 
 If ye wil noght for our praying. 
 
 For faith ye aw unto the kyng, 
 
 Cumandes him his tale to tell. 
 
 That we mai her how it byfell. 
 
 Than said the quene. Sir Colgrevance, 
 I prai the tak to no grevance, 
 This kene karping of syr Kay, 
 Of weked wordes has he bene ay, 
 So that none may him chastise, 
 
 Tharfor i prai thee, on al wise, 130 
 
 That thou let noght for his sawes. 
 At tel to me and thi felawes, 
 Al thi tale how it bytid. 
 For my luf i the pray and byd. 
 Sertes, madame, that es me lath, 
 Bot for i wil noght mak yow wrath, 
 Yowr cumandment i sal fulfill. 
 If ye will listen me untill ; 
 With hertes and eres understandes, 
 And i sal tel yow swilk tithandes, 140 
 
 That ye herd never none slike 
 Reherced in no kynges ryke ; 
 Bot word fares als dose the wind, 
 Bot if men it in hert bynd ; 
 And wordes woso trewly tase 
 By the eres into the hert it gase ; 
 And in the hert thar es the horde, 
 And knawing of ilk mans worde. 
 
 Herkens, hende, unto my spell, 
 Trosels sal i yow nane tell, 150 
 
 Ne lesinges forto ger yow lagh. 
 
 Bot i sal say right als i sagh. 
 
Metrical Romances. 125 
 
 Now, als this time sex yer, 
 
 I rade allane, als ye sal her, 
 
 Obout, forto seke aventurs, 
 
 Wele armid in glide armurs, 
 
 In a frith i fand a strete, 
 
 Ful thik and hard, i yow bihete, 
 
 With thomes, breres, and moni a quyn, 
 
 Ner hand al day i rade thare-yn, 160 
 
 And thurgh i past, with mekyl payn, 
 
 Than come i sone into a playn, 
 
 Whar i gan se a bretise brade, 
 
 And thederward ful fast i rade ; 
 
 I saw the walles and the dyke, 
 
 And hertly wele it gan me lyke ; 
 
 And on the draw-brig saw i stand, 
 
 A knight with fawkon on his hand ; 
 
 This ilk knight, that be ye balde, 
 
 Was lord and keper of that halde. 170 
 
 I hailsed him kindly, als i kowth, 
 
 He answerd me mildeli with mowth ; 
 
 Mi sterap toke that hende knight, 
 
 And kindly cumanded' me to lyght. 
 
 His cumandment i did onane, 
 
 And into hall sone war we tane. 
 
 He thanked god, that glide man, 
 
 Sevyn sithes or ever he blan, 
 
 And the way that me theder broght, 
 
 And als the aventurs that i soght. 180 
 
 Thus went we in, god do him mede ! 
 
 And in his hand he led my stede. 
 
 When we war in that fayre palays, 
 
 It was ful worthly wroght always, 
 
 I saw no man of moder bom, 
 
 Bot a burde hang us bifom. 
 
 Was nowther of yren, ne of tre, 
 
 Ne i ne wist whar-of it might be ; 
 
 And by that bord hang a mall. 
 
 The knyght smate on thar-with-all igo 
 
 Thrise, and by then might men se, 
 
 Bifore ham come a fair meny^ 
 
 Curtayse men in worde and dede. 
 
 To stabil sone thai led mi stede, 
 
 A damisel come unto me. 
 
 The semeliest that ever i se, 
 
 Lufsumer lifed never in land, 
 
 Hendly scho toke me by the hand, 
 
 ' Conjectural emendation : cumand, as in verse no. 
 
126 Ancient English 
 
 And sone that gentyl creature 
 
 Al unlaced myne armure ; 200 
 
 Into a chamber sho me led, 
 
 And with a mantil scho me cled ; 
 
 It was of purpur, fair and fine, 
 
 And the pane of riche ermyne ; 
 
 Al the folk war went us fra, 
 
 And thare was none than bot we twa ; 
 
 Scho served me' hendely to hend, 
 
 Hir maners might no man amend ; 
 
 Of tong sho was trew and renable, 
 
 And of hir semblant soft and stabile ; 210 
 
 Ful fain i wald, if that i might, 
 
 Have woned with that swete wight : 
 
 And when we sold go to sopere, 
 
 That lady, with a lufsom chere, 
 
 Led me down into the hall, 
 
 Thar war we served wele at all. 
 
 It nedes noght to tel the mese, 
 
 For wonder wele war we at esse.'' 
 
 Byfor me sat the lady bright, 
 
 Curtaisly my mete to dyght ; 220 
 
 Us wanted nowther baken' ne roste, 
 
 And, efter soper, sayd myne oste, 
 
 That he cowth noght tel the day 
 
 That ani knight are with him lay, 
 
 Or that ani aventures soght, 
 
 Tharfor he prayed me, if i moght, 
 
 On al wise when i come ogayne. 
 
 That i sold cum to him sertayne. 
 
 I said. Sir, gladly, yf i may, 
 
 I had bene shame have said him nay. 230 
 
 That night had i ful gude rest. 
 
 And mi stede esed of the best. 
 
 Alsone als it was dayes lyght, 
 
 Forth to far sone was i dyght ; 
 
 Mi leve of mine est toke i thare, 
 
 And went my way with-owten mare, 
 
 Aventures for to layt in land. 
 
 A fair forest sone i fand, 
 Me thoght mi hap thare fel ful hard. 
 For thar was mani a wilde lebard, 240 
 
 Lions, beres, bath bul and bare. 
 That rewfuUy gan rope and rare ; 
 
 ' The MS. reads " U." 
 
 2 Conjectural emendation : ese (as esed, v. 232), 
 
 • Conjectural emendation : bake. 
 
Metrical Romances. 127 
 
 Oway i drogh me, and with that, 
 
 I saw sone whar a man sat, 
 
 On a lawnd, the fowlest wight 
 
 That ever yit man saw in syght ; 
 
 He was a lathly creatur. 
 
 For fowl he was out of mesur ; 
 
 A wonder mace in hand he' hade, 
 
 And sone my way to him i made ; 250 
 
 His hevyd, me-thought, was als grete 
 
 Als of a rowncy or a nete. 
 
 Unto his belt hang his hare, 
 
 And efter that byheld i mare ; 
 
 To his forhede byheld i than. 
 
 Was bradder than twa large span ; 
 
 He had eres als ane olyfant, 
 
 And was wele more than geant ; 
 
 His face was ful brade and flat ; 
 
 His nese was cutted als a cat ; 260 
 
 His browes war like litel buskes ; 
 
 And his tethe like bare tuskes ; 
 
 A ful grete bulge opon his bak ; 
 
 Thar was noght made with-owten lac ; 
 
 His chin was fast until his brest ; 
 
 On his mace he gan him rest. 
 
 Also it was a wonder wede 
 
 That the cherle yn yede ; 
 
 Nowther of wol, ne of line, 
 
 Was the wede that he went yn. 270 
 
 When he me sagh, he stode up-right, 
 
 I frajmed him if he wolde fight, 
 
 For tharto was i in gude will, 
 
 Bot als a beste than stode he still ; 
 
 I hopid that he no wittes kowth, 
 
 No reson forto speke with mowth. 
 
 To him i spak ful hardily. 
 
 And said, What ertow, belamy ? 
 
 He said, ogain, I am a man. 
 
 I said, Swilk saw i never nane ; 280 
 
 What ertow ? al sone said he. 
 
 I said, Swilk als thou her may se. 
 
 I said. What dose thou here allane ? 
 
 He said, I kepe thir bestes ilkane. 
 
 I said. That es mervaile think ma, 
 
 For i herd never of man bot the. 
 
 In wildemes, ne in forestes. 
 
 That kepeing had of wilde bestes, 
 
 Bot thai war bunden fast in halde. 
 
 He sayd, Of thir es none so balde, 209 
 
1 28 Ancient English 
 
 Nowther by day ne bi night, 
 
 Anes to pas out of mi sight. 
 
 I sayd, How so ? tel me thi scill. 
 
 Perfay, he said, gladly i will. 
 
 He said, In al this fair foreste 
 
 Es thar none so wilde baste. 
 
 That renin dar bot stil stand, 
 
 When i am to him cumand ; 
 
 And ay, when that i wil him fang, 
 
 With mi fingers, that er Strang, 300 
 
 I ger him cri, on swilk manere. 
 
 That al the bestes when thai him here, 
 
 Obout me than cum thai all, 
 
 And to mi fete fast thai fall, 
 
 On thair maner merci to cry ; 
 
 Bot understand now, redyli, 
 
 Olyve es thar lifand no ma, 
 
 Bot i, that durst omang tham ga. 
 
 That he ne sold sone be al to-rent, 
 
 Bot thai er at my comandment ; Jio 
 
 To me thai cum, when i tham call. 
 
 And i am maister of tham all. 
 
 Than he asked, onone right, 
 
 What man i was. I said, A knyght, 
 
 That soght aventurs in that land. 
 
 My body to asai and fande : 
 
 And i the pray of thi knownsayle. 
 
 Thou teche me to sum mervayle. 
 
 He sayd, I can no wonders tell, 
 
 Bot her-bisyde es a well,l 320 
 
 Wend theder, and do als i say. 
 
 Thou passes noght al quite oway. 
 
 Folow forth this ilk strete. 
 
 And sone sum mervayles sal thou mete. 
 
 The well es under fairest tre, 
 
 That ever was in this cuntre ; 
 
 By that well hinges a bac}me. 
 
 That es of gold gude and ija^. 
 
 With a cheyne, trewly to tell. 
 
 That wil reche into the well. 330 
 
 Thare es a chapel ner thar-by. 
 
 That nobil es, and ful lufely, 
 
 By the well standes a stane, 
 
 Tak the bacyn sone onane. 
 
 And cast on water with thi hand. 
 
 And sone thou sal se new tithand. 
 
 A storme sal rise, and a tempest, 
 
 Al obout by est and west ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 129 
 
 Thou sal here mani thonor blast, 
 
 Al obout the blawand fast ; 3^0 
 
 And there sal cum slik slete arid rayne, 
 
 That unnese sal thou stand og-a)Tie ; 
 
 Of lightnes sal thou se a lowe, 
 
 Unnethes thou sal thi-selven knowe ; 
 
 And if thou pas with-owten grevance, 
 
 Than has thou the fairest chance 
 
 That ever yit had any knyght 
 
 That theder coriie to kyth his myght. 
 
 Than toke i leve, and went my way, 
 And rade unto the midday ; 350 
 
 By than i come whare i sold be, 
 I saw the chapel and the tre ; 
 Thare i fand the fayrest theme,' 
 That ever groued sen god was born ; 
 So thik it was with leves grene, 
 Might no rayn cum thar-bytwene, 
 And that grenes lastes ay, 
 For no winter dere yt may. 
 I fand the bacyn, als he talde. 
 
 And the wel with water kalde, 360 
 
 An amerawd was the stane, 
 Richer saw i never nane, 
 On fowr rubyes on heght standand, 
 Thair light lasted over al the land ; 
 And when i saw that semely syght, 
 It made me bath jo)rful and lyght ; 
 I toke the bacyn sone onane,' 
 And helt water opon the stane : 
 The weder wax than wonder blak, 
 And the thoner fast gan crak. 370 
 
 .Thar come slike stormes of hayl and rayn, 
 Unnethes i might stand thare ogayn : 
 The store windes blew ful lowd, 
 So kene come never are of clowd ; 
 I was drevyn with snaw and slete, 
 Unnethes i might stand on my fete ; 
 In my face the levening smate, 
 I wend have brent, so was it hate. 
 
 ' TheMS. has "</ora«." 
 
 ' This incident is introduced into ''The noble hystory of kyng Ponthus of 
 Galyce," 1511, 4to. b. i. (a translation from the French) : "The knyght toke a 
 cuppe of golde, and put it in the well, and wette the stone withall ; and the water 
 sprang abrode ; and it began to thunder and to hayle, and to be a stronge tempest ; 
 but it dured not long ; and moche mervaylled the straungers of that well, for alway 
 he spryncled it tofore that he went to fyghte." 
 
 9 
 
130 Andent English 
 
 That weder made me so will of rede, 
 
 I hopid sone to have my dede ; 3°° 
 
 And, sertes, if it laBg had last, 
 
 I hope i had never thethin past ; 
 
 B'ot, thorgh his might that tholed wownd. 
 
 The storme sesed within a stownde ; 
 
 Than wex the weder fayr ogayne. 
 
 And tharof was i wonder fajme ; 
 
 For best comforth of al thing 
 
 Es solace efter myslikeing. 
 
 Than saw i sone a mery syght. 
 Of al the fowles that er in fiyght 390 
 
 Lighted so thik opon that tre, 
 That bogh ne lefe none might i se ; 
 So merily than gon thai sing. 
 That al the wode began to ring ; 
 Ful mery was the melody, 
 Of thaire sang and of thaire cry ; 
 Thar herd never man none swilk, 
 Bot if ani had herd that ilk ; 
 And when that mery dyn was done 
 Another noyse than herd i sone, 400 
 
 Als it war of horsmen, 
 Mo than owther nyen or ten. 
 
 Sone than saw i cum a knyght. 
 In riche armurs was he dight. 
 And sone when i gan on him loke. 
 Mi shelde and sper to me i toke ; 
 That knight to me hied ful fast. 
 And kene wordes out gan he cast ; 
 He bad that i sold tel him tite 
 
 Whi i did him swilk despite, 410 
 
 With weders wakend him of rest. 
 And done him wrang in his forest ; 
 Tharfore, he said, thou sal aby, 
 And with that come he egerly, 
 And said, i had, ogayne resowne, 
 Done him grete destrucciowne, 
 And might it nevermore amend, 
 Tharfor he bad i sold me fend ; 
 And sone i smate him on the shelde. 
 Mi schaft brae out in the felde, 420 
 
 And then he bar me sone bi strenkith 
 Out of my sadel my speres lenkith. 
 I wate that he was largely 
 By the shuldres mare that i. 
 And, bi the ded that i sal thole. 
 Mi stede by his was but a fole ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 131 
 
 For mate i lay down on the grownde, 
 
 So was i stonayd in that stownde. 
 
 A worde to me wald he noght say, 
 
 Bot toke my stede, and went his way. 430 
 
 Ful farily than thare i sat 
 
 For wa i wist noght what was what. 
 
 With my stede he went in hy, 
 
 The same way that he come by, 
 
 And i durst folow him no ferr, 
 
 For dout me solde bite werr. 
 
 And also yit, by goddes dome, 
 
 I ne wist whar he bycome. 
 
 Than i thoght how i had hight 
 Unto myne oste, the hende knyght, 44O 
 
 And also til his lady biyght. 
 To com ogayn, if that i myght ; 
 Mine armurs left i thare ilkcine, 
 For els myght i noght have gane ; 
 Unto myne in i come by day ; 
 The hende knight, and the fayre may, 
 Of my come war thai ful glade. 
 And nobil semblant thai me made. 
 In al thinges thai have tham born, 
 Als thai did the night biforn. 45° 
 
 Sone thai wist whare i had bene. 
 And said, that thai had never sene 
 Knyght, that ever theder come. 
 Take the way ogayn home. 
 On this wise that tyme i wroght, 
 I fand the folies that i soght. 
 
 Now, sekerly, said sir Ywayne, 
 Thou ert my cosyn jermayne, 
 Trew luf suld be us b3^wene, 
 
 Als sold b3ftwyx brether bene, 460 
 
 Thou ert a fole, at thou ne had are 
 Tald me of this ferly fare. 
 For, sertes, i sold onone ryght 
 Have venged the of that ilk knyght ; 
 So sal i yit, if that i may. 
 And than als smertly sayd syr Kay : 
 He karpet to tham wordes grete : 
 It es sene now es efter mete, 
 Mare boste es in a pot of wyne, 
 
 Than in a karcas of saynt Martyne ; 470 
 
 Arme the smertly," syr Ywayne, 
 And sone that thou war cumen ogayne. 
 
 * The MS. reads " smestly" 
 
132 Ancient English 
 
 Luke thou fil wele thi panele, 
 
 And in thii sadel set the wele ; 
 
 And when thou wendes, i the pray, 
 
 Thi baner wele that thou desplay; 
 
 And rede i, or thou wende, 
 
 Thou tak thi leve at ilka frende ; 
 
 And if it so bytide this nyght, 
 
 That the in slepe dreche ani wight, 480 
 
 Or any dremis mak the rad, 
 
 Turn ogayn, and say i bad. 
 
 The queue answerd, with milde mode, 
 And said, Sir Kay, ertow wode ? 
 What the devyl es the withyn. 
 At thi tong may never blyn 
 Thi felows so fowly to shende ? 
 Sertes, sir Kay, thou ert unhende. 
 By him that for us suflerd pine, 
 
 Syr, and thi tong war myne, 490 
 
 I sold bical it tyte of treson. 
 And so might thou do by gude reson ; 
 Thi tong dose the grate dishonowre, 
 And tharefore is it thi traytowre. 
 And than alsone syr Ywa)me 
 Ful hendly answerd ogayne ; 
 Al if men sayd hym velany. 
 He karped ay ful curtaysly ; 
 Madame, he said unto tlie quene, 
 Thare sold na stryf be us bytwene, 500 
 
 Unkowth men wele may he shende, 
 That to his felows es so unhende ; 
 And als, madame, men says sertayne, 
 - That woso ^lites, or tumes ogayne, 
 He bygins al the melle. 
 So wil i noght it far by me ; 
 Lates him say halely his thoght. 
 His wordes greves me right noght. 
 
 Als thai war in this spekeing. 
 Out of the chamber come the kyng, 510 
 
 The barons that war there sertayn, 
 Smertly rase thai him ogayne. 
 He bad tham sit down albydene, 
 And down he set him by the quene ; 
 The quene talde him, fayr and wele, 
 Als sho kowth, everilka dele, 
 Ful apertly, al the chance, 
 Als it byfel syr Colgrevance. 
 When sho had talde him how it ferd, 
 And the king hyr tale had herd, 520 
 
Metrical Romances. 133 
 
 He sWar by his owyn crowhe, 
 And his fadersowl, Uter-Pendragowne, 
 That he sold se that ilk syght, 
 By that day thethin a fowretenight, 
 On saint John's evyn the baptist, 
 That best bam was under Crist : 
 Swith, he sayd, wendes with me, 
 Whoso wil that wonder se. 
 The kynges word might noght be hid, 
 Over al the cowrt sone was it kyd, 530 
 
 And that was none so litel page 
 That he ne was fa3m of that vayage. 
 And knyghtes and swiers war ful fayne, 
 Mysliked none bot syr Ywayne ; 
 To himself he made grete mane. 
 For hewald have went allane ; 
 In hert he had grete myslykyng 
 For the wending of the kyng, 
 Al for he hopid, withowten fayle. 
 That sir Kay sold ask the batayle, 540 
 
 Or els sir Gawayn, knyght vailant, 
 Andowther wald the king grant. 
 Whoso it wald first cirave, 
 Of tham two, sone might it have. 
 The kynges wil wald he noght bide, 
 Worth of him what may bityde, 
 By him allane he thoght to wende. 
 And tak the grace that god wald send. 
 He thoght to be wele on hys way, 
 Or it war passed the thryd day, 550 
 
 And to asay if he myght mete 
 With that ilk narow strete. 
 With thomes and with breres set, 
 That mens way might lightli let ; 
 And also forto fynd the halde 
 That sir Colgrevance of talde, 
 The knyght and the mayden raeke. 
 The forest fast than wald he seke, 
 And als the karl of Kaymes kyn, 
 And the wilde bestes with him ; 560 
 
 The tre with briddes thare-opon ; 
 The chapel, the bacyn, and the stone. 
 His thoght wald he tel to no frende. 
 Until he wyst how it wald ende. 
 Than went Ywaine to his yn, 
 His men he fand redy tharyn. 
 Unto a swier gan he saye, 
 Go s*ith, and sadel my palfray. 
 
134 Ancient English 
 
 And so thou do my Strang stede, 
 
 And tak -with the my best wede, 57° 
 
 At yone yate i wil out-ryde, 
 
 Withowten town i sal the bide, 
 
 And hy the smartly unto me, 
 
 For i most make a jorne. 
 
 Ogain sal thou bring' my palfra. 
 
 And forbede the oght to say, 
 
 If thou wil any more me se, 
 
 Lat none wit of my prevet^ ; 
 
 And if ani man the oght frayn, 
 
 Luke now lely that thou layn. 580 
 
 Sir, he said, with ful gude will, 
 
 Als ye byd, i sal fulfyll ; 
 
 At yowr awyn wil may ye ride. 
 
 For me ye sal noght be ascryed. 
 
 Forth than went sir Ywayne, 
 He thinkes, or he cum ogayne, 
 To wreke his kosyn at his myght ; 
 The squier has his hernays dyght, 
 He did right als his mayster red, 
 
 His stede, his armurs, he him led. 590 
 
 When Ywayn was withowten town. 
 Of his palfray lighted he down, 
 
 And dight him right wele in his wede. 
 
 And lepe up on his gude stede. 
 
 Furth he rade onone right, 
 
 Until it neghed nere the nyght. 
 
 He passed many high mowntayne, 
 
 In wildemes, and mony a playne,, 
 
 Til he come to that lethir sty, 
 
 That him byhoved pass by ; 600 
 
 Than was he seker forto se 
 
 The wel, and the fayre tre ; 
 
 The chapel saw he at the last. 
 
 And theder hyed he ful fast ; ^ 
 
 More curtaysi and mor honowr 
 
 Fand he with tham in that tour, 
 
 And mar conforth, by mony falde, 
 
 Than Colgrevance had him of talde : 
 
 ' The MS. reads " irringr 
 
 ' The poet, in this place, has either forgot himself, or mistaken his original. Sir 
 Ywain, according to sir Colgrevances relation, as well as to the story, neither could, 
 nor did, see these wonders till afterward. See V. 352. He means to say that sir 
 Ywain came in sight of the palace or castle, where Sir Colgrevance had been so 
 kindly entertained, and where he himself finds so much courtesy and honour. The 
 mistake may be, in part, corrected by reading castle for chapel. 
 
Metrical Romances. '35 
 
 That night was he herberd thar, 
 
 So wele was he never are. 6io 
 
 At morn he went forth by the strete, 
 And with the cherel sone gan he mete, 
 That sold tel to him the way, 
 He sayned him, the soth to say, 
 Twenty sith, or ever he blan, 
 Swilk mervayle had he of that man ; 
 For he had wonder that nature 
 Myght mak so fowl a creature. 
 Than to the well he rade gude pase, 
 And doun he lighted in that place, 620 
 
 And sone the bacyn has he tane. 
 And kest water upon the stane, 
 And sone thar wex, withowten fayle, 
 Wind, and thonor, and ra3Ti, and haile. 
 When it was sesed, than saw he 
 The fowles light opon the tre. 
 Thai sang ful fayre opon that thorn, 
 Right als thai had done bjrforn ; 
 And sone he saw cumand a knight, 
 Als fa§t so the fowl in flyght, 630 
 
 With rude sembland, and steme cher, 
 And hastily he neghed nere ; 
 To speke of lufe na time was thar. 
 For aither hated uther ful sar ; 
 Togeder smertly gan thai drive, 
 Thair sheldes sone bigan to ryve, 
 Thair shaftes chaverd to thair hand, 
 Bot thai war bath ful wele syttand. 
 Out thai drogh thair swerdes kene, 
 And delt strakes th6m bytwehe ; 640 
 
 Al to peces thai hewed thair sheldes,' 
 The culpons flegh out in the feldes ; 
 On helmes strake thay so with yre 
 At ilka strake out-brast the fyr'; 
 Aither of tham gude buffetteS bede ; 
 And nowther wald styr of the stede ; 
 Ful kenely thai kyd thair rriyght, 
 And feyned tham noght forto fight ; 
 Thair hauberkes, that men myght ken. 
 The blode out of thair bodyes ren. 650 
 
 Aither on other laid so fast. 
 The batayl might noght lang last ; 
 Hauberkes er broken, and helmes reven, 
 Stif strakes war thar gyfen ; 
 
 ■ The MS. has " sleldes.'' 
 
136, Ancient . English 
 
 Thai faght on hors stifly always, 
 The batel was wele mor to prays : 
 Bpt, at the last, syr Ywayne 
 On his felow kyd his mayne, 
 So egerly he smate him than. 
 
 He clefe the helme and the hern-pan. 660 
 
 The knyght wist he was nere ded, 
 To fle than was his best rede, 
 And fast he fled, with al his mayne, 
 And fast folow syr Ywayne, 
 Bot he ne might him overtake, 
 Tharfore grete muming gan he make ; 
 He folowd him ful stowtlyk, 
 And wald have tane him ded or quik ; 
 He folowd him to the cete, 
 
 Na man lyfand met he. 670 
 
 When thai come to the kastel-yate. 
 In he folowd fast tharate, 
 At aither entre was, i wys, 
 Straytly wroght, a port-culis, 
 Shod wele with yren and stele. 
 And also grunden wonder wele. 
 Under that than was a swyke, 
 That made syr Ywain to myslike ; 
 His hors fote toched thareon. 
 
 Than fel the port-culis onone, 680 
 
 Bytwyx hiin and his hinder arsown, 
 Thorgh sadel and stede, it smate al down ; 
 His spores of his heles it schare, 
 Than had Ywaine murnyng mare, 
 Bot so he wend have passed quite. 
 That fel the tother bifore als tyte. 
 A faire grace yit fel him swa, 
 Al if it smate his hors in twa, 
 And his spors of aither hele, 
 
 That himself passed so wele. 690 
 
 Bytwene tha yates now es he tane, 
 Tharfor he mase ful mykel mane. 
 And mikel murnyng gan he ma. 
 For the knyght was went him fra. 
 Als he was stoken in that stall. 
 He herd byhind him, in a wall, 
 A dor opend fair and wele. 
 And tharout come a damysel, 
 Efter hir the dore sho stak, 
 
 Ful hinde wordes to him sho spak. 700 
 
 Syr, sho said, by saint Myghell, 
 Her thou has a febll ostell ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 137 
 
 Thou mon be ded, es noght at laine, , 
 For my lord that thou has ^slayne; 
 Seker it es that thou him siogh, 
 My lady maltes sprrow ynogh, 
 And al his menye everilkane 
 Her has thou famen manyane, 
 To be thi bane er thai ful balde, 
 Thou brekes noght out of this halde, 710 
 
 And, for thai wate thai may noght fayl, 
 Thai ' wil the sla in playn batayl. 
 He sayd, Thai ne sal, so god me rede, 
 For al thair might, do me to dede, 
 Ne no handes opon me lay. 
 Sho said, Na, sertes, if that i may, 
 Al if thou be here strajrtly stad, 
 Methink thou ert noght ful adrad : 
 And sir, sho said, on al wise, 
 
 I aw the honor and servyse ; 720 
 
 I was in message at the king, 
 Bifor this time, whils i was ying, 
 I was noght than so avese,^ 
 Als a damysel aght to be, 
 Fro the tyme that i was lyght 
 In cowrt was none so hend knyght 
 That unto me than walde take hede 
 Bot thou allane, god do the mede ! 
 Grete honor thou did to me. 
 
 And that sal i now quite the. 730 
 
 I wate, if thou be seldom sene, 
 Thou art the kyng son Uriene, 
 And thi name es sir Ywayne, 
 Of me may thou be sertayne, 
 If thou wil my kownfail leve, 
 Thou sal find na man the to greve ; 
 I sal lene the her mi ring, 
 Bot yelde it rte at myne askyng, 
 When thou ert broght of al thi payn, 
 Yelde it than to me ogajme ; 740 
 
 Als the bark hilles the tre. 
 Right so sal my ring do the ; 
 When thou in hand has the stane, 
 Der sal thai do the nane, 
 For the stane es of swilk myght, 
 Of the sal men have na syght. 
 Wit ye wele that sir Ywayne 
 Of thir wordes was ful fayne. 
 
 ' The MS. has " Yer » The MS. has " saveser 
 
1^8 Ancitnt English 
 
 In at the dore sho him led, 
 
 And did him sit opon hir bed, 75°. 
 
 A quylt ful nobil lay tharon. 
 
 Richer saw he never none. 
 
 Sho said, if he wald any thing, 
 
 He sold be served at his liking. 
 
 He said, that ete wald he fayn. 
 
 Sho went, and come ful sone ogain ; 
 
 A capon rosted broght sho sone, 
 
 A clene klath, and brede tharone, 
 
 And a pot with riche wine. 
 
 And a pece to fil it yne. 760 
 
 He ete and drank, with ful gude cher, 
 
 Fortharof had he grete myster. 
 
 When he had eten and dronken wele, 
 
 Grete noyse he herd in the kastele, 
 
 Thai soght over al him to have slayn. 
 
 To venge thair lorde war thai ful bayn, 
 
 Or that the cors in erth was layd. 
 
 The damysel sone to him sayd. 
 
 Now seke thai the fast forto sla, 
 
 Bot whoso ever com or ga, 770 
 
 Be thou never the mor adred, 
 
 Ne styr thou noght out of this stede : 
 
 In this here seke thai wyll, 
 
 Bot on this bed luke thou be styll ; 
 
 Of tham al mak thou na force, 
 
 Bot when that thai sal ber the cors 
 
 Unto the kyrk forto bery. 
 
 Than sal thou here a sary cry ; 
 
 So sal thai mak a doleful dyn, 
 
 Than wil thay seke the eft herin ; 780 
 
 Bot loke thou be of hert lyght, 
 
 For of the sal thai have no syght ; 
 
 Her sal thou be mawgre thair herd. 
 
 And tharfor be thou noght ^ferd ; 
 
 Thi famen sal be als the blynd. 
 
 Both byfor the and byhind ; 
 
 On ilka side sal thou be soght ; 
 
 Now most i ga, bot drede the noght. 
 
 For i sal do that the es lefe, 
 
 If al it turn me to mischefe. 
 
 When sho come unto the yate, 
 
 Ful many men fand sho tharate, 
 
 Wele armed, and wald ful fayn 
 
 Have taken and slane sir Ywaine, 
 
 Half his stede thar fand thai. 
 
 That within the yates lay, 
 
 790 
 
Metrical Romances. 139 
 
 Bot the knight thar fand thai noght, 
 
 Than was thar mekil sorow unsoght, 
 
 Dore ne window was thar nane 
 
 Whar he myght oway gane. 800 
 
 Thai said he sold thare be laft, 
 
 Or els he cowth of wechecraft, 
 
 Or he cowth of nygromancy, 
 
 Or he had wenges for to fly. 
 
 Hastily than went thai all, 
 
 And soght him in the maydens haill, 
 
 In chambers high, es noght at hide, 
 
 And in solers on ilka side. 
 
 Sir Ywaine saw ful wele al that, 
 
 And still opon the bed he sat ; 810 
 
 Thar was nane that anes mynt 
 
 Unto the bed at smyte a dynt, 
 
 Al obout thai smate so fast 
 
 That mani of thair wapins brast. 
 
 Mekyl sorow thai made ilkane. 
 
 For thai ne myght wreke thair lord bane. 
 
 Thai went oway,. with dreri chere, 
 
 And sone tharefter come the ber, 
 
 A lady folowd, white so mylk. 
 
 In al that land was none swilk : 820 
 
 Sho wrang her fingers, out-brast the blode, 
 
 For mekyl wa sho was nere wode, 
 
 Hir fa)rr har scho al to-drogh, 
 
 And ful oft fel sho down in swogh ; 
 
 Sho wepe, with a ful dreri voice. 
 
 The hali water, and the croyce, 
 
 Was bom bifor the procession, 
 
 Thar folowd mani a moder son. 
 
 Bifore the cors rade a knyght. 
 
 On his stede that was ful wight, 830 
 
 In his armurs wele arayd. 
 
 With sper and target gudely grayd. 
 
 Than sir Ywayn herd the cry, 
 
 And the dole of that fayr lady, 
 
 For mor sorow myght nane have 
 
 Than sho had when he went to grave. 
 
 Prestes and monkes, on thaire wyse, 
 
 Ful solerapnly did the servyse. 
 
 Als Lunet thar stode in the thrang," 
 
 Until sir Ywaine thoght hir lang, 840 
 
 ' Lynet Is the name of the damsel, in Mori d' Arthur, sister of dame Liones, who 
 comes for a champion to the court of Iting Arthur, where she obtains sir Beaumains, 
 and accompanies him back. See Part i, C. 132. 
 
1 40 Ancient English 
 
 Out of the thrang the wai shb tase, 
 
 Unto sir Ywaine fast sho gase ; 
 
 Sho said, Sir, how ertow stad ? 
 
 I hope ful wele thou has ben6 rad. 
 
 Sertes, he said, thou sais wele thar. 
 
 So abayst was i never aire. 
 
 He said, Leman, i pray the, 
 
 If it any wise may be, 
 
 That i might luke a litel throw 
 
 Out at sum hole or sum window ; 850 
 
 For wonder fayn, he sayd, wald 1 
 
 Have a sight of the lady. 
 
 The maiden than ful sone unshet 
 
 In a place a preve weket, 
 
 Thar of the lady he had a syght, 
 
 Lowd sho cried to god almyght, 
 
 " Of his sins do him pardowne. 
 
 For sertanly in no regyowne 
 
 Was never knight of his bewte, 
 
 Ne efter him sal never nane be ; 860 
 
 In al the werld, fro end to ende, 
 
 Es none so curtayse, ne so hende. 
 
 God grant the grace thou mai won 
 
 In hevyn with his owyn son ! 
 
 For so large lifes none in lede, 
 
 Ne none so doghty of gude dede." 
 
 When sho had thus made hir spell. 
 
 In swownyng ful oft-sithes sho fell. 
 
 Now lat we the lady be. 
 And of sir Ywaine speke we. 870 
 
 Luf that es so mekil of mayne, 
 ,Sar had wownded sir Ywayne, 
 That whareso he sal ride or ga 
 His hert sho has that es his fa. 
 His hert he has set albydene 
 Whar him self dar noght be sene ; 
 Bot thus in langing bides he. 
 And hopes that it sal better be. 
 Al that war at the enterement 
 
 Toke thciir leve at the lady gent, 880 
 
 And hame' now er thai halely gane. 
 And the lady left allane, 
 Dweland with hir chamberer, 
 And other mo that war hir der. 
 Than bigan hir noyes al new. 
 For sorow failed hir hide and hew. 
 
 > The MS. has " y ane " on an erasure in a modern hand. 
 
Metrical Romances. 141 
 
 Unto his sawl was sho ful hulde, 
 
 Opon a sawter al of guide, 
 
 To say the salmes fast sho bigan, 
 
 And toke no tent unto no man. 890 
 
 Than had sir Ywain mekyl drede, 
 
 For he hoped noght to spede, 
 
 He said, I am mekil to blame, 
 
 That i luf tham that wald pie sha,rae, 
 
 Bot yit i wite hir al with wogh. 
 
 Sen that i hir lord slogh, 
 
 I can noght se, by nakyn gyn. 
 
 How that i hir luf sold wyn. 
 
 That lady es ful gent and small, 
 
 Hir yghen cler als es cristall ; 9O0 
 
 Sertes thar es no man olive 
 
 That kowth hir bewtese wele descrive. 
 
 Thus was syr Ywayne sted that sesowne, 
 
 He wroght fu mekyl ogayns resowne, 
 
 To set his luf in swilk a stede, 
 
 Whare thai hated him to the dede : 
 
 He sayd he sold have hir to wive, 
 
 Or els he sold lose his lyve. 
 Thus als he in stody sat, 
 
 The roayden come to him with that : 910 
 
 Sho sayd, How haAo farn this day, 
 
 Sen that i went fro the oway ? 
 
 Sone sho saw him pale and wan, 
 
 Sho wist wele what him ayled than ; 
 
 Sho said, I wote thi hert es set, 
 
 And sertes i ne sal noght it let, 
 
 Bot i sal help the fra presowne. 
 
 And bring the to thi warisowne. 
 
 He said, Sertes, damysele, 
 
 Ojit of this place wil i noght stele, 920 
 
 Bot i wil wende by dayes lyght. 
 
 That men may of me have sight, 
 
 Opinly on ilka syde, 
 
 Worth of me what so bityde ; 
 
 Manly wil i hethin wende. 
 
 Than answerd the mayden hende : 
 
 Sir, thou sal wend with honowr. 
 
 For thou sal have ful gude socowr ; 
 
 Bot, sir, thou sal be her sertayne, 
 
 A while unto i cum ogayne : 930 
 
 Sho [kend] altrewly his entent, 
 
 And tharfor es sho wightly went 
 
 Unto the lady faire and bright, 
 For unto hir right wele sl^o myght 
 
142 Ancient English 
 
 Say what-som hyr willes es, 
 
 For sho was al hir maystres, 
 
 Her keper, and hir cownsayler : 
 
 To hir sho said, als ye sal her, 
 
 Bytwix tham twa in gude cownsayl : 
 
 Madame, sho sayd, i have mervayl 94° 
 
 That ye sorow thus ever onane ; 
 
 For goddes luf lat be yowr mane ; 
 
 Ye sold think over alkyn thyng, 
 
 Of the kinges Arthurgh cumyng. 
 
 Menes yow noght of the message 
 
 Of the damysel savage. 
 
 That in hir lettre to yow send ; 
 
 Alias, who sal yow now defend, 
 
 Yowr land, and al that es tharyn ? 
 
 Sen ye wil never of wepeing blyn. 950 
 
 A madame, takes tent to me. 
 
 Ye ne have na knyght in this cuntre, 
 
 That durst right now his body bede, 
 
 Forto do a doghty dede, 
 
 Ne forto bide the mekil boste 
 
 Of king Arthurgh and of his oste, 
 
 And if he find none hym ogayn, 
 
 Yowr landes er lorn, this es sertayn, 
 
 The lady understode ful wele 
 How sho hyr cownsaild ilka dele, 960 
 
 Sho bad hyr go hir way smertly. 
 And that sho war na mor hardy 
 Swilk wordes to hyr at speke, 
 For wa hir hert wold al to-breke. 
 Sho bad go wightly hethin oway. 
 Than the maiden thus gan say : 
 Madame, it es oft wemens will 
 Tham forto blame that sais tham scill. 
 Sho went oway als sho noght roght, 
 And than the lady hyr bythoght 970 
 
 That the maiden said no wrang. 
 And so sho sat in stody lang. 
 
 In stody thus allane sho sat. 
 The inayden come ogayn with that : 
 Madame, sho said, ye er a barn. 
 Thus may ye sone yowr self forfam. 
 Sho sayd, chastise thy hert madame. 
 To swilk a lady it es grate shame 
 Thus to wepe, and make slike cry, 
 Think upon thi grete gentri. 980 
 
 Trowes thou the flowr of chevalry 
 Sold al with thi lord dy, 
 
Metrical Romances. 143 
 
 And with him be put in molde ?^ 
 
 God forbede that it so solde ! 
 
 Als gude als he, and better bene, 
 
 Thou lyes, sho said, by hevyn quene. 
 
 Lat se if thoue me tel kan, 
 
 Whar es any so doghty man 
 
 Als he was that wedded ' me. 
 
 " Yis, and ye kun me na mawgre, 990 
 
 And that ye mak me sekernes, 
 
 That ye sal luf me nevertheles." 
 
 Sho said, Thou may be ful sertayn, 
 
 That for na thing that thou mai sayn, 
 
 Wil i me wreth on nane maner. 
 
 Madame, sho said, than sal ye her : 
 
 I sal yow tel a prevete. 
 
 An na ma sal wit bot '^ we. 
 
 Yf twa knyghtes be in the felde. 
 
 On twa stedes, with spere and shelde, 1000 
 
 And the tana the tother may sla. 
 
 Whether es the better of tha ? 
 
 Sho said, He that has the bataile. 
 
 Ya, said the mayden, sawnfayle. 
 
 The knyght that lifes es mar of maine, 
 
 Than yowr lord that was slayne ; 
 
 Yowr lord fled out of the place, 
 
 And the tother gan hym chace 
 
 Heder into his awyn halde, 
 
 Thar may ye wit he was ful balde. loio 
 
 The lady said, This es grete scome. 
 
 That thou nevyns him me bifome, 
 
 Shou sais nowther soth, ne right, 
 
 Swith out of myne eghen syght ! 
 
 The mayden said, So mot i the, 
 
 Thus ne hight ye noght me. 
 
 That ye sold so me myssay. 
 
 With that sho turned hir oway. 
 
 And hastily sho went ogayn. 
 
 Unto the chameber to sir Ywayne. 1020 
 
 The lady thoght than, al the nyght, 
 How that sho had na knyght. 
 Forte seke hir land thorghout. 
 To kepe Arthurgh and hys rowt. 
 Than bigan hir forto shame, 
 And hir self fast forto blame ; 
 
 ' Between that and wedded is a syllable of two letters, interlined, illegible, and 
 unnecessaiy to the sense. 
 > The MS. reads " bo." 
 
^44 Ancient English 
 
 Unto hir self fast gan sho flyte. 
 
 And said With wrang now i hir wite ; 
 
 Now hopes sho i will never niar 
 
 Luf hir, als i have done ar ; 1030 
 
 I wil hir luf, with main and mode, 
 
 For that sho said was for my gode. 
 
 On the morn the mayden rase. 
 And unto chamber sone sho gSse^ 
 Thar sho fyndes the faire lady 
 Hingand hir hevyd ful drerily. 
 In the place what sho hir left, 
 And ilka dele sho talde hir eft, 
 Als sho had said to hir bifor. 
 
 Than said the lady, Me reiwes for, 1040 
 
 That i missayd the yisterday, 
 I wil amend if that i may ; 
 Of that knyght now wald i her, 
 What he war, and whether he wer ; 
 I wate that i have sayd omys. 
 Now wil i do als thou me wys : 
 Tel me baldely, or thou blin. 
 If he be cumen of gentil k3m. 
 Madame, sho said, i dar warand 
 A genteler lord es none lifand. 1050 
 
 The hendest man ye sal him fynde, 
 That ever come of Adams kynde. 
 " How hat he ? sai me for sertayne." 
 Madame, sho said, sir Ywayne, 
 So gentil knight have ye noght sens, 
 He es the kings' son Uryene. 
 Sho held hir paid of that tith)mg,^ 
 For that his fader was a kyng. 
 " Do me have him herte in my sight, 
 Bitwene this and the thrid night, 1060 
 
 And ar if that it are myght be. 
 Me langes far him forto se ; 
 Bring him if thou mai this night." 
 Madame, sho sayd, that I ne might, 
 For his wonyng es hethin oway. 
 More than the jornS of a day ; 
 Bot i have a wele rinand page, 
 Wil stirt thider right in a stage, 
 And bring him by to morn at nyght. 
 The lady saide, Loke, yf he myght 1070 
 
 To-morn by evyn be here ogayn. 
 Sho said, Madame, With al his mayn. 
 
 The MS. reads " kins.'- 2 The MS. reads " tiytig:' 
 
Metrical Romances. 145 
 
 " Bid him hy, on alkyn wyse, 
 
 He sal be quit wele his servyse, 
 
 Avancement sal be hys bone, 
 
 If he wil do this erand sone." 
 
 Madame, sho said, i dar yow hight, 
 
 To have him her or the thrid nyght ; 
 
 Towhils efter yowr kownsayl send, 
 
 And ask tham wha sal yow defend, 1080 
 
 Yowr well, yowr land, kastel, and towr, 
 
 Ogayns the nobil king Arthur, 
 
 For thar es nane of tham ilkane 
 
 That dar the batel undertane. 
 
 Then sal ye say, nedes bus me take 
 
 A lorde to do that ye forsake : 
 
 Nedes bus yow have sum nobil knyght 
 
 That wil and may defend yowr right ; 
 
 And sais also to suffer ded 
 
 Ye wil noght do out of thair rede: 1090 
 
 Of that worde sal thai be blyth. 
 
 And thank yow ful niany sithe. 
 
 The lady said. By god of myght, 
 
 I sal areson tham this night ; 
 
 Me think thou dwelles ful lang her, 
 
 Send forth swith thi messanger. 
 
 Than was the lady blith and glad, 
 Sho did al als hir raayden bad, 
 Efter hir cownsail sho sent onane. 
 And bad thai sold cum sone ilkane. noo 
 
 The maiden redies hyr ful rath, 
 Bilive sho gert syr Ywaine bath, 
 And cled him sethin in gude scarlet, 
 Forord wele and with gold fret, 
 A girdel ful riche for the nanes. 
 Of perry and of preciows stanes. 
 Sho talde him al how he sold do. 
 When that he come the lady to ; 
 And thus when he was al redy, 
 
 Sho went and talde to hyr lady, 1 1 10 
 
 That cumen was hir messager. 
 Sho said smertly, Do lat me her, 
 Cumes he sone, als have thou wyn ? 
 Medame, sho said, i sal noght blin. 
 Or that he be byfor yow here. 
 Then said the lady, with light cher. 
 Go bring him heder prevely, 
 That none wit bet thou and i : 
 Then the maiden went ogayn. 
 Hastily to sir Ywayn : 1 120 
 
146 Ancient English 
 
 Sir, sho sayd, als have i wyn, 
 
 My lady wate thou ert hereyn ; 
 
 To cum bifor hir luke thou be balde, 
 
 And tak gode tent what i have talde. 
 
 By the hand sho toke the knyght, 
 
 And led him unto chamber right, 
 
 Byfor hir lady, es noght at layne, 
 
 And of that come was sho ful fayne ; 
 
 Bot yit sir Ywayne had grete drede, 
 
 When he unto chamber yede. 1130 
 
 The chamber flore, and als the bed. 
 
 With klothes of gold was al over spred, 
 
 Hir thoght he was withowten lac, 
 
 Bot no word to him sho spak. 
 
 And he for dred oway he drogh. 
 
 Than the mayden stode and logh : 
 
 Sho sayd, Mawgre have that knyght, 
 
 That haves of swilk a lady syght , 
 
 And can noght shew to hir his nede ; 
 
 Cum furth sir, the thar noght drede, 1140 
 
 That mi lady wil the smyte, 
 
 Sho loves the wele withowten lite. 
 
 Pray to hir of hir mercy. 
 
 And for thi sake right so sal i. 
 
 That sho forgif the, in this stede. 
 
 Of Salados the rouse ded, 
 
 That was hir lord that thou hast slayne. 
 
 On knese him set than syr Ywaine : 
 
 " Madame, i yelde me yow untill. 
 
 Ever to be at yowre wyll, 1150 
 
 Yf that i might i ne wald noght fie. 
 
 Sho said. Nay, whi sold so be ? 
 
 To ded yf i gert do the now, 
 
 To me it war ful litel prow, 
 
 Bot for i find the so bowsum. 
 
 That thou wald thus to me cum, 
 
 And for thou dose the in my grace, 
 
 I forgif the thi trispase. 
 
 Syt down, sho said, and lat me her. 
 
 Why thou ert thus deboner. 1160 
 
 Madame, he said, anis, with a luke, 
 
 Al my hert with the thou toke, 
 
 Sen i first otthe had syght. 
 
 Have i the lufed with al my might, 
 
 To mo than the, mi lady hende, 
 
 Sal never mor my luf wende. 
 
 For thi luf ever i am redy 
 
 Lely forto lif or dy. 
 
Metrical Romances. 147 
 
 Sho said, Dar thou wele undertake 
 
 In my land pese forto make, 1 170 
 
 And forto maintene al mi rightes, 
 
 Ogayns king Arthur and his knyghtes ? 
 
 He said. That dar I undertane, 
 
 Ogaynes ilka lyfand man. 
 
 Swilk kownsail byfor had sho tane, 
 
 Sho said, Sir, than er we at ane. 
 
 Hir barons hir ful rathly red 
 To tak a lord hir forto wed. 
 Than hastily she went to hall, 
 
 Thar abade hir barons all, 1 180 
 
 Forto hald thair parlement, 
 And mari hir by thair asent. 
 Sho sayd, SirSj with an acorde. 
 Sen me bus nedely have a lord, 
 My landes forto lede and yeme, 
 Sais me sone howe ye wil deme. 
 Madame, thai said, how so ye will, 
 Al we sal assent thartyll. 
 
 Than the lady went ogayne, 
 Unto chameber to sir Ywaine : 1190 
 
 Sir, sho said, so god me save, 
 Other lorde wil i nane have. 
 If i the left i did noght right, 
 A kingson and a noble knyght. 
 
 Now has the maiden done hir thoght. 
 Sir Ywa)nie out of anger broght, 
 The lady led him unto hall, 
 Ogains him rase the barons all. 
 And al thai said, Ful sekei'ly. 
 
 This knight sal wed the lady ; 1200 
 
 And ilkane said, tham-self bitwene, 
 So fair a man had thai noght sene, 
 For his bewte in hal and bowr. 
 Him semes to be an emperowr ; 
 We wald that thai war trowth-plight, 
 And weded sone this ilk nyght. 
 The lady set hir on the dese. 
 And cumand al to hald thaire pese ; 
 And bad hir stewardvSumwhat say. 
 Or men went fra cowrt oway : 1210 
 
 The steward said, Sirs, understandes, 
 Wer es waxen in thir landes, 
 The king Arthur es redy dight 
 To be her byn this fowretenyght, 
 He and his menye ha thoght 
 To win this land if thai moght ; 
 
148 Ancient English 
 
 Thai wate ful wele that he es ded 
 
 That was lord her in this stede, 
 
 None es so wight wapins to welde, 
 
 Ne that so boldly mai us belde, 1220 
 
 And wemen may maintene no stowr, 
 
 Thai most nedes have a governowre, 
 
 Tharfor mi lady most nede 
 
 Be weded hastily for drede, 
 
 And to na lord wil sho tak tent 
 
 Bot if it be by yowr assent. 
 
 Than the lordes, al on raw, 
 
 Held tham wele payd of this saw, 
 
 Al assented hyr untill 
 
 To tak a lord at hyr owyn wyll. 1230 
 
 Than said the lady, onone right, 
 
 How hald ye yow paid of this knight ? 
 
 He profers hym, on al wyse, 
 
 To myne honor and my servyse ; 
 
 And sertes, sirs, the soth to say, 
 
 I saw him never or this day ; 
 
 Bot talde unto me has it bene 
 
 He es the kyngson Uriene, 
 
 He es cumen of hegh parage. 
 
 And wonder doghty of vaselage, 1240 
 
 War and wise and ful curtayse, 
 
 He yemes me to wife alwayse, 
 
 And ner the lese i wate he might 
 
 Have wele better, and so war right. 
 
 With a voice halely thai sayd, 
 
 Madame, ful wele we hald us payd ; 
 
 Bot hastes fast, al that ye may, 
 
 That ye war wedded this ilk day : 
 
 And grete prayer gan thai make, 
 
 On al wise that sho suld hym take. 1250 
 
 Sone unto the kirk thai went. 
 And war wedded in thair present ; 
 Thar wedded Ywaine in plevyne 
 The riche lady Alundyne, 
 The dukes doghter of Landuit ; 
 Els had hyr lande bene destruyt. 
 Thus thai made the maryage, 
 Omang al the riche barnage, 
 Thai made ful mekyl mirth that day, 
 Ful grete festes on gude aray. 1260 
 
 Grete mirthes made thai in that stede, 
 And al forgetyn es now the ded 
 Of him that was thair lord fre. 
 Thai say that this es worth swilk thre, 
 
Metrical Romances, 149 
 
 And, that thai lufed him mekil mor, 
 Than him that lord was thare byfor. 
 
 The bridal sat, for soth to tell. 
 Til kyng Arthur come to the well. 
 With al his knyghtes everilkane, 
 Byhind leved thar noght ane. 1270 
 
 Than sayd sir Kay, Now whar es he 
 That made slike bost her forto be, 
 Forto venge his cosyn-germayne ? 
 I wist his wordes war al in vayne ; 
 He made grete boste bifor the quene, 
 And her now dar he noght be sene ; 
 His prowd wordes er now al purst. 
 For, in fayth, ful ill he durst 
 Anes luke opon that knyght, 
 
 That he made bost with to fyght. 1280 
 
 Than sayd Gawayn hastily, 
 Syr, for goddes luf, mercy. 
 For i dar hete the for sertayne 
 That we sal here of sir Ywayne, 
 This ilk day, that be thou balde, 
 Bot he be ded or done in halde : 
 And never in no cumpany 
 Herd i him speke the velany. 
 Than sayd sir Kay, Lo, at thi will, 
 Fra this time forth i sal be still. 1290 
 
 The king kest water on the stane. 
 The storme rase ful sone onane 
 With wikked weders kene and calde, 
 Als it was byfore-hand talde ; 
 The king and his men ilkane 
 Wend tharwith to have bene slane ; 
 So blew it stor with slete and rayn : 
 And hastily than syr Ywayne 
 Dight him graythly in his ger. 
 
 With nobil shelde and strong sper. 1300 
 
 When he was dight in seker wede, 
 Than he umstrade a nobil stede, 
 Him thoght that he was als lyght, 
 Als a fowl es to the flyght. 
 Unto the well fast wendes he. 
 And sone when thai myght him se, 
 Syr Kay, for he wald noght fayle. 
 Smartly askes the batayl ; 
 And alsone than said the kyng, 
 Sir Kay, i grante the thine askyng. 13 10 
 
 Than sir Ywayn neghed tham ner, 
 Thair cowntenance to se -and her ; 
 
150 Ancient English 
 
 Sir Kay than on his stede gan spring. 
 
 Ber the wele now, sayd the kyng, 
 
 Ful glad and biith was syr Ywayne, 
 
 When sir Kay come him ogayn ; 
 
 Bot Kay wist noght wha it was, 
 
 He findes his fer now or he pas ; 
 
 Syr Ywaine thinkes now to be wroken, 
 
 On the grete wordes that Kay has spoken. 1320 
 
 Thai rade togeder with speres kene, 
 Thar was no reverence tham bitwene ; 
 Sir Ywayn gan sir Kay bere, 
 Out of his sadel lenkith of his sper, 
 His helm unto the erth smate, 
 A fote depe tharin yt bate ; 
 He wald do him na mor despite, 
 Bot down he lighted als tyte, 
 Sir Kay stede he toke in hy. 
 
 And presand the king ful curtaysly. 1330 
 
 Wonder glad than war thai all. 
 That Kay so fowl, a shame gan fall, 
 And ilkone sayd til other then. 
 This es he that scornes al men. 
 Of his wa war thai wele paid. 
 Syr Ywain than to the kyng said. 
 Sir kyng, i gif to the this stede, 
 For he may help the in thi nede. 
 And to me war it grete trispas 
 
 Forto withhald that yowres was. 1340 
 
 What man ertow ? quod the kyng, 
 Of the have i na knawyng, 
 Bot if thou unarmed were. 
 Or els thi name that i might her. 
 Lord, he sayd, i am Ywayne. 
 Than was the king ferly fayne. 
 A sari man than was sir Kay, 
 That said that he was stoUen oway, 
 Al descumfite he lay on grownde. 
 To him that was a sary stownde. 1350 
 
 The king and his men war ful glad. 
 That thai so syr Ywayne had, 
 And ful glad was sir Gawayne, 
 Of the welefar of sir Ywayne, 
 For nane was to him half so der 
 Of all that in the court were. 
 
 The king sir Ywayn sone bisoght, 
 To tel him al how he had wroght. 
 And sone sir Ywaine gan him tell 
 Of al his far how it byfell, 1360 
 
Metrical Romances, 151 
 
 With the knight how that he sped, 
 And how he had the lady wed, 
 And how the mayden hym helpid wele : 
 Thus tald he to him ilka dele. 
 
 Sir kyng, he sayd, i yow byseke, 
 And al yowr menye milde and meke, 
 That ye wald grante to me that grace 
 And wend with me to my purchace. 
 And se my kastel and my towre. 
 Than myght ye do me grete honowr. 1370 
 
 The kyng granted him ful right 
 To dwel with him a fowretenyght. 
 Sir Ywayne thanked him oft sith. 
 The knyghtes war al glad and blyth 
 With sir Ywaine forto wend, 
 And sone a squier has he send : 
 Unto the kastel the way he nome. 
 And warned the lady of thair come. 
 And that his lord come with the kyng ; 
 And, when the lady herd this thing, 1380 
 
 It es no lifand man with mowth 
 That half hir cumforth tel kowth. 
 
 Hastily that lady hende 
 Cumand al hir men to wende. 
 And dight tham in thair best aray. 
 To kepe the king that ilk day. 
 Thai keped him in riche wede, 
 Rydeand on many a nobil stede, 
 Thai hailsed him ful curtaysly. 
 
 And also al his cumpany. 139° 
 
 Thai said he was worthy to dowt. 
 That so fele folk led obowt. 
 Thar was grete joy, i yow bihete, 
 With clothes spred ■ in ilka strete, 
 And damysels danceand ful wele, 
 With trompes, pipes, and with fristele : 
 The castel and cet6 rang 
 With mynstralsi and nobil sang ; 
 Thai ordand tham ilkane in fer, 
 
 To kepe the king on fair maner. 1400 
 
 The lady went withowten towne, 
 And with hir many bald barowne, 
 Cled in purpur and ermyne, 
 With girdels al of gold ful fyne. 
 The lady made ful meri chere. 
 She was al dight with drewries der ; 
 
 The MS. reads ' ' sfered!' the d above being in a modem hand. 
 
152 Ancient English 
 
 Abowt hir was ful mekyl thrang. 
 
 The puple cried, and sayd omang, 
 
 Welkum ertou, kjrag Arthoure, 
 
 Of al this werld thou beres the flowr, 1410 
 
 Lord kyng of all kynges, 
 
 And blessed be he that the brynges. 
 
 When the lady the Vijag saw, 
 Unto him fast gan sho draw, 
 To hald his sterap whils he lyght, 
 Bot sone when he of hir had syght. 
 With mekyl myrth thai samen met, 
 With hende wordes sho him gret. 
 A thowsand sithes, Welkum, sho says, 
 And so es sir Gawayne the curtayse. 1420 
 
 The king said, Lady, white so flowr, 
 God gif the joy and mekil honowr, 
 For thou ert fayr with body gent ; 
 With that he hir in armes hent, 
 And ful fair he gan hir falde, 
 Thar was many to bihalde. 
 It es no man with tong may tell 
 The mirth that was tham omell ; 
 Of maidens was thar so gude wane. 
 That ilka knight myght tak ane. 1430 
 
 Ful mekil joy syr Ywayn made. 
 That he the king til his hows hade, 
 The lady omang tham al samen 
 Made ful mekyl joy and gamen. 
 In the kastel thus thai dwell, 
 Ful mekyl myrth wase tham omell. 
 
 The king was thare with his knyghtes 
 
 Aght dayes and aght nyghtes. 
 
 And Ywayn tham ful mery made, 
 
 With alkyn gamyn tham for to glade ; 1440 
 
 He prayed the kyng to thank the may 
 
 That hyra had helpid in his jornay, 
 
 And ilk day had thai solace ser 
 
 Of huntyng and als of revere, 
 
 For thar was a ful fay re cuntr^. 
 
 With wodes and parkes grete plente, 
 
 And castels wroght with lyme and stane, 
 
 That Ywayne with his wife had tane. 
 Now wil the king no langer lende, 
 
 Bot til his cuntre wil he wende. i45° 
 
 Ay whils thai war thar, for sertayne, 
 
 Syr Gawayn did al his mayne 
 
 To pray sir Ywaine, on al maner, 
 
 For to wende with tham in fere : 
 
Metrical Romances. 153 
 
 He said, Sir, if thou ly at hame, 
 
 Wonderly men wil the blame ; 
 
 That knyght es nothing to set by 
 
 That leves al his chevalry, 
 
 And ligges bekeand in his bed, 
 
 When he haves a lady wed. 1460 
 
 For when that he has grete endose 
 
 Than war tyme to win his lose ; 
 
 For, when a knyght es chevalrouse, 
 
 His lady es the more jelows ; 
 
 Also she lufes him wele the bet : 
 
 Tharfore, sir, thou sal noght let 
 
 To haunt armes in ilk cuntre, 
 
 Than wil men wele mor prayse the ; 
 
 Thou base inogh to thi despens. 
 
 Now may thow wele hante tumamentes ; 1470 
 
 Thou and i sal wende in fer. 
 
 And i wil be at thi banere. 
 
 I dar noght say, so god me glad, 
 
 If i so fayr a leman had < 
 
 That i ne most leve al chevalry. 
 
 At hame ydel with hir to ly; 
 
 Bot yit a fole, that litel kan. 
 
 May wele cownsail another man. 
 
 So lang sir Gawayn prayed so. 
 
 Sir Ywayne grantes him forte go 1480 
 
 Unto the lady, and tak his leve ; 
 
 Loth him was hir forto greve. 
 
 Til hyr onane the way he nome, 
 
 Bot sho ne wist noght whi he come ; 
 
 In his arms he gan hir mete. 
 
 And thus he said, My leman swete. 
 
 My life, my hele, and al my hert, 
 
 My joy, my comforlh, and my quart, 
 
 A thing prai i the unto, 
 
 For thine honor and myne also. 1490 
 
 The lady said. Sir, verrayment, 
 
 I wil do al yowr cumandment. 
 
 Dame, he said, i wil the pray. 
 
 That i might the king cumvay. 
 
 And also with my feres founde, 
 
 Armes forto haunte a stownde, 
 
 For in bourding men wald me blame. 
 
 If i sold now dwel at hame. 
 
 The lady was loth him to greve ; 
 
 Sir, sho said, i gif yow leve, 1500 
 
 Until a terme that i sal sayn, 
 
 Bot that ye cum than ogayn. 
 
154 Ancient English 
 
 Al this yer hale i yow grante 
 
 Dedes of armes for to hante, 
 
 Bot, syr, als ye luf me dare, 
 
 On al wise that ye be her 
 
 This day twelmoth, how som it be, 
 
 For the luf ye aw to me ; 
 
 And, if ye com noght by that day, 
 
 My luf sal ye lose for ay : 15 lo 
 
 Avise yow wele now or ye gone, 
 
 This day is the evyn ef saint Jon, 
 
 That warn i yow now or ye wende, 
 
 Luke ye cum by the twelmoth ende. 
 
 Dame, he said, i sal noght let, 
 
 To hald the day that thou has set. 
 
 And, if i might be at my wyll, 
 
 Ful oft ar sold i cum ye till ; 
 
 Bot, madame, this understandes, 
 
 A man that passes divers landes 1520 
 
 May sumtyme cume in grete destres, 
 
 In preson, or els in sekenes, 
 
 Tharfore i pray yow or i ga, 
 
 That ye wil out-tak thir twa. 
 
 The lady sayd, This grant i wele, 
 
 Als ye ask, everilka dele, 
 
 And i sal lene to yow my ring. 
 
 That es to me a ful der thing. 
 
 In nane anger ' sal ye be, 
 
 Whils ye it have and thinkes on me 1530 
 
 I sal tel to yow onane 
 
 The vertu that es in the stane : 
 
 It esy na preson yow sal halde, 
 
 Al if yowr fase be many falde ; 
 
 With sekenes sal ye noght be tane ; 
 
 Ne of yowr blode ye sal lese nane ; 
 
 In batel tane sal ye noght be, 
 
 Whils ye it have and thinkes on me ; 
 
 And ay, whils ye er trew of love. 
 
 Over al sal ye be above ; 1540 
 
 I wald never for nakyn wight, 
 
 Lene it ar unto na knyght, 
 
 For grete luf i it yow take, 
 
 Yemes it wele now for my sake. 
 
 Sir Ywayne said. Dame, gramercy. 
 
 Than he gert ordain in hy 
 
 Armurs, and al other gere, 
 
 Stalworth stedes, both sheld and sper. 
 
 Query, danger. 
 
Metrical Romances. 155 
 
 And also squyer, knave, and swa)me : 
 
 Ful glad and blith was sir Gawayne. 1550 
 
 No lenger wald syr Ywayne byde, 
 On his stede sone gan he stride ; 
 And thus he has his leve tane, 
 For him mumed many ane. 
 The lady toke leve of the kyng, 
 And of his menye aid and ying ; 
 Hir lord sir Ywayne sho bisekes, 
 With teris trikland on hir chekes, 
 On al wise that he noght let 
 
 To halde the day that he had set. 1560 
 
 The knightes thus thair ways er went, 
 To justing and to turnament ; 
 
 Ful dughtily did sir Ywayne, 
 And also did sir Gawayne ; 
 Thai war ful doghty both in far, 
 
 Thai wan the prise both fer and ner. 
 The kyng that time at Cester lay, 
 
 The knightes went tham for to play, 
 
 Ful really thai rade obout, 
 
 Al that twelmoth out and out, 1570 
 
 To justing and to turnament, 
 
 Thai wan grete wirships als thai went. 
 
 Sir Ywayne oft had al the lose, 
 
 Of him the word ful wide gose ; 
 
 Of thair dedes was grete renown 
 
 To and fra in towre and towne. 
 On this wise in this life thai last 
 
 Unto saint Johns day was past ; 
 
 Than hastily thai hied home, 
 
 And sone unto the kyng thai come ; 1580 
 
 And thar thai held grete mangeri. 
 
 The kyng with al his cumpany. 
 
 Sir Ywayne umbithought him than 
 
 He had forgeten his leman ; 
 
 Broken i have hir cumandment 
 
 Sertes, he said, now be i shent ; 
 
 The terme es past that sho me set, 
 
 How ever sal this bale be bet ? 
 
 Unnethes he might him hald fra wepe. 
 
 And right in this than toke he kepe. 1590 
 
 Into court come a damysele. 
 
 On a palfray ambland wele, 
 
 And egerly down gan sho lyght, 
 
 Withouten help of knave or knyght, 
 
 And sone sho lete hyr mantel fall, 
 
 And hasted hir fast into hall ; 
 
156 Ancient English 
 
 Sir kyng, sho sayd, god mot the se, 
 
 My lady gretes the wele by me, 
 
 And also, sir, gude Gawayne, 
 
 And al thi knyghtes, bot sir Ywayne, 1600 
 
 He es ateyned for traytur. 
 
 And fals and lither losenjoure : 
 
 He has bytrayed my lady, 
 
 Bot sho es war with his gilry ; 
 
 Sho hopid noght, the soth to say. 
 
 That he wald so have stollen oway ; 
 
 He made to hir ful mekyl boste. 
 
 And said of al he lufed hir moste ; 
 
 Al was treson and trechery. 
 
 And that he sal ful der haby. 1610 
 
 It es ful mekyl ogains the right 
 
 To cal so fals a man a knight. 
 
 My lady wend he had hir hart. 
 Ay forto kepe and hald in quert ; 
 
 Bot now with grefe he has hir gret, 
 And broken the term that sho him set, 
 
 That was the evyn of saynt John, 
 
 Now es that tyme for ever gone ; 
 
 So lang gaf sho him respite, 
 
 And thus he haves hir led with lite ; 1620 
 
 Sertainly so fals a fode, 
 
 Was never cumen of kynges blode. 
 
 That so sone forgat his wyfe. 
 
 That lofed him better than hyr life. 
 
 Til Ywayn sais sho, Thus thou es 
 
 Traytur untrew, and trowthles, 
 
 And also an unkind cumlyng ; 
 
 Deliver me my lady ring. 
 
 Sho stirt to him, with sterne loke, 
 
 The ring fro his finger sho toke, 163° 
 
 And, alsone als sho had the ring, 
 
 Hir leve toke sho of the king, 
 
 And stirted up on hir palfray, 
 
 With-owten more sho went hir way ; 
 
 With hir was nowther knave ne grome, 
 
 Ne no man wist wher sho bycome. 
 Sir Ywayn, when he this gan her, 
 
 Mumed, and made simpil cher. 
 
 In sorow than so was he stad, 
 
 That nere for murnyng wex he mad, 164° 
 
 It was no mirth that him myght mend. 
 
 At worth to noght ful wele he wend, 
 
 For wa he es ful wil of wane : 
 
 ■' Alias ! i am myne owen bane," 
 
Metrical Romances. 157 
 
 Alias, he sayd, that i was bom ! 
 
 Have i my leman thus forlorn ? 
 
 And al es for myne owen foly, 
 
 Alias ! this dole wil mak me dy. 
 
 An evyl toke him als he stode, 
 
 Far wa he wex al wilde and wode ; 1650 
 
 Unto the wod the way he nome,' 
 
 No man wist whor he bycome. 
 
 Obout he welk in the forest, 
 
 Als it wore a wilde beste, 
 
 His men on ilka syde has soght, 
 
 Fer and ner, and findes him noght. 
 
 On a day, als Ywayne ran 
 In the wod, he met a man, 
 Arowes brade and bow had he, 
 
 And when sir Ywaine gan him se, 1660 
 
 To him he stirt, with biiful grim, 
 His bow and arwes reft he him, 
 Ilka day than at the leste, 
 Shot he him a wilde beste ; 
 Fless he wan him, ful gude wane. 
 And of his arows lost he nane. 
 Thare he lifed a grete sesowne, 
 With rotes, and raw venysowne, 
 He drank of the warm blode. 
 
 And that did him mekil gode. 1670 
 
 Als he went in that boskage, 
 He fand a letil enn5ftage ; 
 The ermyte saw, and sone was war 
 A naked man a bow bar, 
 He hoped he was wode that tide, 
 Tharfor no lenger durst he bide ; 
 He sperd his yate, and in he ran, 
 Fof fered of that wode man ; 
 And, for him thoght it charite. 
 
 Out of his window set he 1680 
 
 Brede and water for the wode man, 
 And tharto ful sone he ran. 
 Swilk als he bkirswilk he him gaf, 
 Barly brede with al the chaf ; 
 Tharof ete he ful gude wane, 
 And are swilk ete he never nane. 
 
 ' A similar adventure is related in Mart d' Arthur, from the old French romance 
 of sir Tristram (P. 2, C. 59, &c.) ; and of sir Lancelot du Lac (P. 3, C. 9, &c.) ; and 
 to one or other of these stories was Ariosto indebted for the idea of Orlando's 
 madness. 
 
158 Ancient English 
 
 Of the water he drank thar-with, 
 
 Than ran he forth into. the frith. 
 
 For, if a man be never so wode, 
 
 He wil kum whare man dose him gode ; 1690 
 
 And sertanly so did Ywayne, 
 
 Everilka day he come ogayne, 
 
 And with him broght he redy boun 
 
 Ilka day new venisowne, 
 
 He laid it at the ermite yate, 
 
 And ete, and drank, and went his gate. 
 
 Ever, al sone als he was gane, 
 
 The ermyt toke the flesh onane, 
 
 He flogh it, and seth it fayr and wele. 
 
 Than had Ywayne, at ilka mele, 1700 
 
 Brede and sothen venysowne. 
 
 Than went the ermyte to the towne, 
 
 And salde the skinrres that he broght, 
 
 And better brede tharwith he boght. 
 
 Than fand sir Ywayne in that stede 
 
 Venyson and better brede. 
 
 This life led he ful fele yer, 
 
 And sethen he wroght als ye sal her. 
 
 Als Ywaine sleped under a tre 
 By him come thar rideand thre, 1710 
 
 A lady, twa bour-wemen alswa, 
 Than spak ane of the maidens twa, 
 A naked [man] me think i se, 
 Wit i wil what it may be. 
 Sho lighted doun, and to him yede, 
 And unto him sho toke gude hede ; 
 Hir thoght wele sho had him sene 
 In many stedes whar sho had bene ; 
 Sho was astonayd in that stownde, 
 For in hys face sho saw a wonde, 1720 
 
 Bot it was haled and hale of hew, 
 Tharby hir thoght that sho him knew. 
 Sho sayd. By god, that me has made ; 
 Swilk a wound sir Ywayne hade, 
 Sertaynly this ilk es he : 
 Alias, sho sayd, how may this be ? 
 Alias, that him es thus bityd ! 
 So nobil a knyght als he was kyd ! 
 It es grete sorow that he sold be 
 So ugly now opon to se. 1730 
 
 So tenderly for him sho gret, 
 That hir teres al hir chekes wet. 
 Madame, sho said, for sertayn, 
 Her have we funden sir Ywayne, 
 
Metrical Romances. 159 
 
 The best knyght that on grund mai ga, 
 
 Alias, him es bytid so wa ! 
 
 In sum sorow was he stad, 
 
 And tharfore es he waxen mad ; 
 
 Sorow wil meng a mans blode, 
 
 And make him forto wax wode. 1740 
 
 Madame, and he war now in quert, 
 
 And al hale of will and hert, 
 
 Ogayns yowr fa he wald yow wer, 
 
 That has yow done so mekyl der ; 
 
 And he war hale, so god me mend, 
 
 Yowr sorow war sone broght to end. 
 
 The lady said, And this ilk be he, 
 
 And than ' he wil noght hethin fle, 
 
 Thorgh goddes help, than hope i yit 
 
 We sal him win ynto his wyt ; 1750 
 
 Swith at hame i wald we wer, 
 
 For thar i have an unement der, 
 
 Morgan the wise gaf it to me,'' 
 
 And said, als i sal tel to the ; 
 
 He sayd. This unement es so gode. 
 
 That, if a man be brayn-wode. 
 
 And he war anes anoynt with yt, 
 
 Smertly sold he have his wit. 
 
 Fro hame thai wer bot half a myle, 
 
 Theder come thai in a whyle ; 1 760 
 
 The lady sone the boyst has soght. 
 
 And the unement has sho broght. 
 
 Have, sho said, this unement her, 
 
 Unto me it es ful dere ; 
 
 And smertly that thou wend ogayne, 
 
 Bot luke thou spend it noght in vaine ; 
 
 And, fra the knyght anoynted be. 
 
 That thou leves bring it to me. 
 
 Hastily that maiden meke 
 
 Tok hose, and shose, and serk, and breke ; 1770 
 
 ' Query, that. 
 
 ' By Morgan the wise she probably means Pelagius, the heretic, abbot of Bangor, 
 and a man of great learning for his age, whose proper name was Morgan (Marigena), 
 which, indeed, is, merely, latinised in Pelagius, implying, in the British tongue, one 
 bom from, or upon, the sea, or, perhaps, by the sea-side, * He is said to have 
 flourished in 418, and, consequently, must have been well striken in years when 
 acquainted with this good lady. 
 
 ' From mor, the sea, and ffaita, Armorican, to beget, procreate or bring forth. Thus 
 Glatnorganshire (anciently Morganiug) is so called from its being upon the sea-coast ; and, 
 in Basse- Bretague, a mermaid is called Marie-Morgan. See Usher's Antiquitates (folio), 
 p. 112). 
 
i6o Ancient English 
 
 A riche robe als gan sho ta, 
 
 And a saint of silk alswa, 
 
 And also a gude palfray, 
 
 And smertly come sho whar he lay. 
 
 On slepe fast yit sho him fande, 
 
 Hir hors until a tre sho band, 
 
 And hastily to him sho yede, 
 
 And that was a ful hardy dede ; 
 
 Sho enoynt his heved wele, 
 
 And his body ilka dele. 1780 
 
 Sho despended al ye unement. 
 
 Over hir ladies cumandment ; 
 
 For hir lady wald sho noght let, 
 
 Hir thoght that it was ful wele set. 
 
 Al his atyre sho left hym by, 
 
 At his rising to be redy, 
 
 That he might him cleth and dyght, 
 
 Or he sold of hyr have syght. 
 Than he wakend of his slepe. 
 
 The maiden to him toke gude kepe, 1790 
 
 He luked up ful /arily. 
 
 And said. Lady, saynt Mary, 
 
 What hard grace to me es maked, 
 
 That i am her now thus naked ? 
 
 Alias, whar any have her bene, 
 
 I trow sum has my sorow sene. 
 
 Lang he sat so in a thoght 
 
 How that ger was theder broght. 
 
 Than had he noght so mekyl myght 
 
 On his fete to stand up-right, 1800 
 
 Him failed might of fote and hand 
 
 That he myght nowther ga ne stand ; 
 
 Bot yit his clathes on he wan ; 
 
 Tharfor ful wery was he than ; 
 
 Than had he mister forto mete 
 
 Sum man that myght his bales bete. 
 
 Than lepe the maiden on hir palfray, 
 
 And nere byside him made hir way ; 
 
 Sho lete als sho him noght had sene, 
 
 Ne wetyn that he thar had bene. 1810 
 
 Sone, when he of hir had syght, 
 
 He cried unto hyr, on hight. 
 
 Than wald sho no ferrer ride 
 
 Bot fast sho luked on ilka syde ; 
 
 And waited obout fer and ner, 
 
 He cried, and sayd, I am her. 
 
 Than sone sho rade him till. 
 
 And sayd. Sir, what es thi will. 
 
Metrical Romances. i6i 
 
 " Lady, thi help war me ful lefe, 
 
 For i am her in grete meschefe ; 1820 
 
 I ne wate never by what chance, 
 
 That i have al this grevance, 
 
 Pur charite, i wald ye pray 
 
 For to lene me that palfray. 
 
 That in thi hand es redy bowne, 
 
 And wis me sone unto som towne, 
 
 I wate noght how i had this wa, 
 
 Ne how that i sal hethin ga." 
 
 Sho answerd him, with wordes hende, 
 
 Syr, if thou wil with me wende, 1830 
 
 Ful gladly wil i ese the 
 
 Until that thou amended be. 
 
 Sho helped him opon his hors ryg, 
 
 And sone thai come until a bryg. 
 
 Into the water the boist sho cast, 
 
 And sethin hame sho hied fast. 
 
 When thai come to the castel yate, 
 Thai lighted and went in tharate. 
 The maiden to the chameber went, 
 The lady asked the unement. 1840 
 
 Madame, sho said, the boyst es lorn. 
 And so was i nerehand tharforn. 
 How so, sho said, for goddes tre ? 
 Madame, sho sa^d, i sal tel the 
 Al the soth how that it was : 
 Als i over the brig sold pas, 
 Evyn in myddes, the soth to say, 
 Thar stombild my palfray ; 
 On the brig he fell al flat, 
 
 And the boyst, right with that, 1850 
 
 Fel fra me in the water down, 
 And had i noght bene titter boun 
 To tak my palfray bi the mane. 
 The water sone had bene my bane. 
 The lady said, Now am i shent. 
 That i have lorn my gude unement. 
 It was to me, so god me glade, 
 The best tresur that ever i hade ; 
 To me it es ful mekil skath, 
 
 Bot better es lose it than yow bath. i860 
 
 Wend, sho said, unto the knight. 
 And luke thou ese him at thi myght. 
 Lady, sho said, els war me lathe. 
 Than sho gert him washe and bathe, 
 And gaf him mete and drink of main. 
 Til he had geten his might ogayn. 
 
1 62 Ancient English 
 
 Thai ordand armurs ful wele dight, 
 And so thai did stedes ful wight. 
 
 So it fell sone on a day, 
 Whils he in the castel lay, 1870 
 
 The ryche eryl, syr Alers, 
 With knightes, serjantes, and swiers, 
 And with swith g^ete vetale, 
 Come that kastel to asayle. 
 Sir Ywain than his armurs tase. 
 With other socure that he hase. 
 The erel he kepes in the felde. 
 And sone he hit ane on the shelde. 
 That the knyght, and als the stede, 
 Stark ded to the erth thai yede, 1880 
 
 Sone another, the thrid, the ferth, 
 Feld he doun ded on the erth. 
 He stird him so omang tham than. 
 At ilka dint he slogh a man. 
 Sum he losed of hys men, 
 Bot the eril lost swilk ten ; 
 Al thai fled fast fra that syde 
 Whar thai saw sir Ywayn ride, 
 He herted so his cumpany. 
 
 The moste coward was ful hardy, 1890 
 
 To fel al that thai fand in in felde. 
 The lady lay ever and bihelde : 
 Sho sais, Yon es a noble knyght, 
 Ful eger and of ful grete myght ; 
 He es wele worthy forto prayse 
 That es so doghty and curtayse. 
 The mayden said, with owten let, 
 Yowr oynement mai ye think wele set ; 
 Se, se, ' madame, how he prikes ! 
 And se, se, also, how fele he strikes ! ''■ 1900 
 
 Lo, how he fars omang his fase ! 
 Al that he hittes sone he slase ; 
 War thar swilk other twa als he. 
 Than hope i sone thair fase sold fie ; 
 Sertes, than sold we se ful tyte. 
 The eril sold be discumfite. 
 Madame, god gif his wil wer 
 To wed yow and be loverd here. 
 
 The erils folk went fast to ded, 
 To fle than was his best rede ; 1910 
 
 The eril sone bigan to fle, 
 And than might men bourd se, 
 
 > The MS. has "ye:' = The MS. has " stihes.'- 
 
Metrical Romances. 163 
 
 How sir Ywayne and his feres 
 
 Folowd tham on fel maners, 
 
 And fast thai slogh the erils men, 
 
 Olive thai left noght over ten ; 
 
 The eril fled ful fast for drede, 
 
 And than sir Ywaine strake his stede, 
 
 And over-toke him in that tide, 
 
 At a kastel thar bysyde ; 1920 
 
 Sir Ywayne sone with-set the yate, 
 
 That the eril myght noght in tharate. 
 
 The eril saw al might noght gain, 
 
 He yalde him sone to sir Ywayn, 
 
 And sone he has his trowtli plyght 
 
 To wend with him that ilk night 
 
 Unto the lady of grete renowne, 
 
 And profer him to hir presowne, 
 
 And to do him in hir grace, 
 
 And also to mend his trispase. 1930 
 
 The eril than unarmed his hevid, 
 
 And none armur on him he levid. 
 
 Helm, shelde, and als his brand. 
 
 That he bar naked in his hand, 
 
 Al he gaf to sir Ywayne, 
 
 And hame with him he went ogaine. 
 
 In the kastel made thai joy ilkane, 
 
 When thai wist the eril was tane, 
 
 And whan thai saw tham cumand ner, 
 
 Ogayns him went thai al in fere, 1940 
 
 And when the lady gan tham mete, 
 
 Sir Ywaine gudely gan hir grete : 
 
 He said, Madame, have thi presoun. 
 
 And hald him her in thi baundoun, 
 
 Bot he gert hir grante him grace 
 
 To mak amendes yn that space. 
 
 On a buke the erl swar 
 
 Forte restor bath les and mar, 
 
 And big ogayn bath tour and toune, 
 
 That by him war casten doune, 1950 
 
 And evermar to be hir frende, 
 
 Umage made he to that hende ; 
 
 To this forward he borows fand. 
 
 The best lordes of al that land. 
 
 Sir Ywaine wald no lenger lend, 
 Bot redies him fast forto wend. 
 At the lady his leve he takes, 
 Grete murnyng tharfore sho makes : 
 Sho said, Sir, if it be yowre will, 
 I pray yow for to dwel her still, i960 
 
164 Ancient English 
 
 And i wil yelde into yowr handes 
 
 Myne awyn body, and al my landes, 
 
 Herof fast she hym bysoght, 
 
 Bot al hir speche avayles noght. 
 
 He said, I wil no thing to mede, 
 
 Bot myne armurs, and my stede. 
 
 Sho said, Bath stedes and other thing 
 
 Es yowres at yowr owyn likyng ; 
 
 And if ye wald her with us dwell 
 
 Mekyl mirth war us omell. 1970 
 
 It was na bote to bid him bide. 
 
 He toke his stede, and on gan stride, 
 
 The lady and hyr maydens gent 
 
 Wepid far when that he went. 
 
 Now rides Ywayn, als ye sal her. 
 With hevy h&rte and dreri cher, 
 Thurgh a forest, by a sty, 
 And thar he herd a hydose cry, 
 The gaynest way ful sone he tase, 
 Til he come whare the noys was, 1980 
 
 Than was he war of a dragoun, 
 Had asayled a wilde lyown, 
 With his tayl he drogh him fast, 
 And fir ever on him he cast. 
 The lyoun had over litel myght 
 Ogaynes the dragon forto fyght ; 
 Than sir Ywayn made him bown 
 For to sucor the lyown, 
 His shelde bifor his face he fest. 
 For the fyr that the dragon kest, 1990 
 
 He strake the dragon in at the chavyl. 
 That it come out at the navyl ; 
 Sunder strake he the throte boll. 
 That fra the body went the choll ; 
 By the lioun tail the hevid hang yit, 
 For tharby had he tane his bit ; 
 The tail sir Ywayne strake in twa. 
 The dragon hevid than fel thar-fra. 
 He thoght, if the lyoun me asayle, 
 Redy sal he have batayle ; 2000 
 
 Bot the lyoun wald noght fyght, 
 Grete fawnyng made he to the knyght, 
 Down on the grund he set him oft. 
 His forther fete he held oloft. 
 And thanked the knyght als he kowth, 
 Al if he myght noght speke with mowth : 
 So wele the lyon of him lete, 
 Ful law he lay and likked his fete. 
 
Metrical Romances. 165 
 
 When syr Ywayne that sight gan se, 
 
 Of the beste him thoght pete ; 2010 
 
 And on his wai forth gan he ride, 
 
 The lyown folowd by hys syde ; 
 
 In the forest al that day, 
 
 The lyoun mekely foloud ay, 
 
 And never, for wele ne for wa, 
 
 Wald he part sir Ywayn fra, 
 
 Thus in the forest als thai war, 
 
 The lyoun hungerd swith sar, 
 
 Of a beste savore he hade. 
 
 Until hys lord sembland he made, 2020 
 
 That he wald go to get his pray. 
 
 His kind it wald, the soth to say ; 
 
 For his lorde sold him noght greve, 
 
 He wald noght go withowten leve. 
 
 Fra his lord the way he laght, 
 
 The mountance of ane arow draght, 
 
 Sone he met a barayn da, 
 
 And ful sone he gan hir sla, 
 
 Hir throte in twa ful sone he bate, 
 
 And drank the blode whils it was hate, 2030 
 
 That da he kest than in his nek, 
 
 Als it war a mele-sek. 
 
 Unto his lorde than he it bar. 
 
 And sir Ywayn persayved thar 
 
 That it was so ner the nyght 
 
 That no ferrer ride he might ; 
 
 A loge of bowes sone he made. 
 
 And flynt and fir-yren bath he hade. 
 
 And fir ful sone thar he slogh. 
 
 Of dry mos and many a bogh ' 2040 
 
 The lioun has the da undone ; 
 
 Sir Ywayne made a spit ful sone. 
 
 And rested sum to thaire soper : 
 
 The lyon lay, als ye sal here ; 
 
 Unto na mete he him drogh. 
 
 Until his maister had eten ynogh. 
 
 Him failed thare bath salt and brede. 
 
 And so him did whyte wine and rede, 
 
 Bot of swilk thing als thai had 
 
 He and his lyon made tham glad. 2050 
 
 The lyon hungerd for the nanes, 
 
 Ful fast he ete raw fless and banes. 
 
 Sir Ywayn, in that ilk telde. 
 
 Laid his hevid opon his shelde, 
 
 ' The MS. has " bo^hty 
 
1 66 Ancient English 
 
 Alnyg-ht the lyon obout yede, 
 To kepe his mayster and his stede : 
 Thus the lyon and the knyght 
 Lended thar a fourtenyght. 
 
 On a day, so it byfell, 
 Syr Ywayne come unto the well, 2060 
 
 He saw the chapel and the thome, 
 And said alias that he was born ; 
 And when he loked on the stane 
 He fel in swowing- sone onane, 
 Als he fel his swerde out-shoke, 
 The pomel into the erth toke. 
 The poynt toke until his throte, 
 Wei ner he made a sari note, 
 Thorgh his armurs sone it smate. 
 And litel intil hys hals it bate : 2070 
 
 And wen the lyon saw his blude, 
 He brayded als he had bene wode. 
 Than kest he up so lathly rerde, 
 Ful mani folk myht he have ferde ; 
 He wend wele, so god me rede. 
 That his mayster had bene ded. 
 It was ful grete pet6 to her 
 What sorow he made on his maner. 
 
 He stirt ful hertly, i yow hete. 
 
 And toke the swerde bytwix his fete, 2080 
 
 Up he set it by a stane. 
 
 And thar he wald himself have slane. 
 
 And so he had sone, for sertayne, 
 
 Bot right in that rase syr Ywayne, 
 
 And alsone als he saw him stand 
 
 For fayn he liked fote and hand. 
 
 Sir Ywayn said oft-sithes. Alias ! 
 
 Of alkins men hard es my grace, 
 
 Mi leman set me sertayn day 
 
 And i it brak, so wayloway ! 2090 
 
 Alias for dole ! how may i dwell 
 
 To se this chapel and this well ! 
 
 Hir fair thorn, hir riche stane ! 
 
 My gude dayes er now al gane. 
 
 My joy es done now al bidene, 
 
 I am noght worthi to be sane ; 
 
 I saw this wild beste was ful bayn 
 
 For my luf himselfe have slayne. 
 
 Than sold i sertes, by mor right 
 
 Sla my self for swilk a wyght ^ic-o 
 
 That i have for my foly lorn ; 
 
 Alias the while that i Was born ! 
 
Metrical Romances. 167 
 
 Als sir Ywayn made his mane, 
 
 In the chapel ay was ane, 
 
 And herd his muming haly al 
 
 Thorgh a crevice of the wall, 
 
 And sone it said, with simepel cher, 
 
 What ertou, that murnes her ? 
 
 A man, he said, sum tyme i was ; 
 
 What ertow ? tel me or i pas. 2 1 10 
 
 I am, it said, the sariest wight 
 
 That ever lifed by day or nyght. 
 
 Nay, he said, by sa3mt Martyne, 
 
 Thar es na sorow mete to myne, 
 
 Ne no wight so wil of wane, 
 
 I was a man now am i nane. 
 
 Whilom i was a nobil knyght. 
 
 And a man of mekyl myght, 
 
 I had knyghtes of my menye, 
 
 And of reches grete plente, 2120 
 
 I had a ful fa)rre seignory, 
 
 And al i lost for my foly ; 
 
 Mi maste sorow als sal thou her, 
 
 I lost a lady that was me der. 
 
 The tother sayd. Alias ! alias ! 
 
 M)me es a wele sarier case ; 
 
 To-mom i mun ber jewyse, 
 
 Als my famen wil devise. 
 
 Alias ! he said, what es the skill ? 
 
 " That sal thou her, sir, if thou will ; 2130 
 
 I was a mayden, mekil of pride. 
 
 With a lady her ner biside, 
 
 Men me bikalles of tresown, 
 
 And has me put her in presown, 
 
 I have no man to defend me, 
 
 Tharfore to morn brent mun i be." 
 
 He sayd. What if thou get a knyght. 
 
 That for the with thi fase wil fight ? 
 
 Syr, sho sayd, als mot i ga. 
 
 In this land er bot knyghtes twa, 2140 
 
 That me wald help to cover of car. 
 
 The tane es went i wate noght whar. 
 
 The tother es dweland witb the king, 
 
 And wate noght of my myslykyng. 
 
 The tane of tham hat syr Gawajm, 
 
 And the tother hat syr Ywayn, 
 
 For hym sal i be done to dede, 
 
 To-mom right in this same stede, 
 
 He es the kinges son Uriene. 
 
 Perfay, he sayd, i have him sene ; 2150 
 
1 68 Ancient English 
 
 I am he, and for my gilt 
 
 Sal thou never more be spilt ; 
 
 Thou art Lunet, if i can rede, 
 
 That helpyd me yn mekyl drede ; 
 
 I had bene ded had thou noght bene, 
 
 Tharfor tel me us bytwene 
 
 How bical thai the of treson, 
 
 Thus forto sla, and for what reson. 
 
 " Sir, thai say, that my lady 
 
 Lufed me moste specially, 2160 
 
 And wroght al efter my rede, 
 
 Tharfor thai hate me to the ded. 
 
 The steward says, that done have i 
 
 Grate tresone unto my lady. 
 
 His twa brethar sayd it als, 
 
 And i wist that thai said fals. 
 
 And sona i answard, als a sot, 
 
 (For fola bolt as sone shot) 
 
 I said, that i sold find a knyght 
 
 That sold me mayntane in my right, 2170 
 
 And fegth with tham al thre, 
 
 Thus the batayl wajed we. 
 
 Than thai granted ma als tyte 
 
 Fourty dayas unto respite. 
 
 And at the kyngas court i was, 
 
 I fand na cumfort, ne na solase, 
 
 Nowther of knyght, knave, na swayn." 
 
 Than, said he, Whar was syr Gawayn ? 
 
 He has bene aver trew and lele, 
 
 Ha fayled never no damysela. 2180 
 
 Scho said. In court [ha] was noght sene, 
 
 For a knyght led oway the quena, 
 
 The kyng tharfor as swith giym. 
 
 Sir Gawayn folowd efter him ; 
 
 He coms noght hame for sertayne 
 
 Until he btyng the quena ogayne. 
 
 Now has thou herd, so god me rede, 
 
 Why i sal be done to ded. 
 
 He said, Als i am a trew knyght, 
 
 I sal be redy forto fyght 2190 
 
 To-morn with tham al thre, 
 
 Leman, for the luf of the. 
 
 At my might i sal noght fayl, 
 
 ' Queen Guinever, having ridden a-maying, along with certain Icnights of the 
 round-table, clothed all in green, was, after a sharp conflict, taken prisoner by sir 
 >leliagrance, and led awa^ to his castle. See Mart d' Arthur, Part 3, chap. 129, &c. 
 
Metrical Romances. 169 
 
 Bot how so bese of the batayle, 
 
 If ani man my name the frayne, 
 
 On al maner luke thou jrt layne, 
 
 Unto na man my name thou say. 
 
 Syr, sho sayd, for soth nay, 
 
 I prai to gprete god alweldand, 
 
 That thai have noght the hegher hand, 2200 
 
 Sen that ye wil my mumyng mend, 
 
 I tak the grace that god wil send. 
 
 Syr Ywayn sayd, I sal the hyght 
 
 To mend thi mumyng at my myght, 
 
 Thorgh grace of god in trenyte, 
 
 I sal the wreke of tham al thre : 
 
 Than rade he forth into frith. 
 
 And hys lyoun went hym with. 
 
 Had he redyn bot a stownde 
 
 A ful fayr castell he fownde, 2210 
 
 And syr Ywaine, the soth to say, 
 
 Unto the castel toke the way ; 
 
 When he come at the castel-yate, 
 
 Four porters he fand tharate, 
 
 The draw-bryg sone lete thai doun, 
 
 Bot al thai fled for the lyown : 
 
 Thai said, Syr, wythowten dowt, 
 
 That beste byhoves the leve tharout. 
 
 He sayd. Sirs, so have i wyn. 
 
 Mi lyoun and i sal noght twyn ; 2220 
 
 I luf him als wele, i yow hete, 
 
 Als my self at ane mete, 
 
 Owther sal we samyn lende. 
 
 Or els wil we hethin wende. 
 
 Bot right with that the lord he met, 
 
 And ful gladly he him gret, 
 
 With knyghtes and swiers grete plente. 
 
 And fair ladies and maydens fre ; 
 
 Ful mekyl joy of him thai made, 
 
 Bot sorow in thair hertes thai hade ; 2230 
 
 Unto a chameber was he led. 
 
 And unarmed, ' and sethin cled 
 
 In clothes that war gay a^d der ; 
 
 Bot oft-tymes changed thair cher. 
 
 Sum tyme he saw thai weped all, 
 
 Als thai wald to water fall ; 
 
 Thai made slike mumyng ^ and slik mane, 
 
 That gretter saw he never nane. 
 
 ' The MS. has ' ' unharmed " with a dot over the h, as if intended to be erased. 
 •^ The MS. reads " mumyg." 
 
lyo Ancient English 
 
 Thai feynyd thatn oft for hys sake 
 
 Fa3rre semblant forto make. 2240 
 
 Ful grete wonder sir Ywayn hade, 
 
 For thai swilk joy and sorow made. 
 
 Sir, he said, if yowr wil war, 
 
 I wald wyt why ye mak slike kar. 
 
 This joy, he said, that we mak now. 
 
 Sir, es al for we have yow. 
 
 And, sir, also we mak this sorow 
 
 For dedys that sal be done to-morow. 
 
 A geant wons her ner bysyde, 
 
 That es a devil of mekil pryde, 2250 
 
 His name hat Harpyns of mowntain, 
 
 For him we lyf in mekil payn. 
 
 My landes haves he robbed and reft, 
 
 Noght bot this kastel es me left. 
 
 And, by god that in hevyn wons, 
 
 Syr, i had sex knyghtes to sons, 
 
 I saw my self the twa slogh he, 
 
 To-morn the four als slane mun be. 
 
 He has al in hys presowne. 
 
 And, sir, for nane other enchesowne, 2260 
 
 Bot for i warned hym to wyve 
 
 My doghter, fa)Test fode ol)rve, 
 Tharfor es he wonder wrath, 
 
 In depely has he sworn hys ath. 
 
 With maystry that he sal hir wyn, 
 
 And that the laddes of his kychyn. 
 
 And also that his werst fote-knave. 
 
 His wil of that woman sal have, 
 
 Bot i to-morn might find a knight. 
 
 That durst with hymselven fyght, 2270 
 
 And i have none to him at ga. 
 
 What wonder es if me be wa ? 
 
 Syr Ywayn lystend him ful wele, 
 
 And, when he had talde ilka dele, 
 
 Syr, he sayd, methink mervayl 
 
 That ye soght never so kounsayl, 
 
 At the kynges hous her bysyde ; 
 
 For, sertes, in al this werld so wyde 
 
 Es no man of so mekil myght 
 
 Geant, champioun, ne knight, 2280 
 
 That he ne has knyghtes of his menyd, 
 
 That ful glad and blyth wald be 
 
 For to mete with swilk a man, 
 
 That thai myght kith thair myghtes on. 
 
 He said, Syr, so god me mend, 
 
 Unto the kynges kourt i send, 
 
Metrical Romances. ijfi 
 
 To seke my mayster syr Gawayn, 
 
 For he wald socor me ful fain, 
 
 He wald noght leve for luf ne drede, 
 
 Had he wist now of my nede, 2290 
 
 For his sister as my W5rfe, 
 
 And he lufes hyr als his lyfe. 
 
 Bot a knyght this other day, 
 
 Thai talde, has led the quene oway, 
 
 Forto seke hyr went sir Gawayn, 
 
 And yit ne come he noght ogayn. 
 
 Than syr Ywayne sighed sar, 
 
 And said unto the knyght right thar, 
 
 Syr, he sayd, for Gawayn sake, 
 
 This batayl wil i undertake, 2300 
 
 Forto fyght with the geant. 
 
 And that opon swilk a covenant, 
 
 Yif he cum at swilk a time. 
 
 So that we may fight by prime ; 
 
 No langer may i tent tharto. 
 
 For other thing i have to do, 
 
 I have a dede that most be done 
 
 To mom nedes byfor the none. 
 
 The knyght, far sighand, sayd him till, 
 
 Sir, god yelde the thi gode wyll ; 2310 
 
 And al that war thar in the hall, 
 
 On knese byfor hym gan thai fall ; 
 
 Forth thar come a byrd ful bryght, 
 
 The fairest man might se in sight, 
 
 Hir moder come with hir in fer. 
 
 And both thai momed and made yll char ; 
 
 The knight said, Lo, verraiment, 
 
 God has us gude socur sent ; 
 
 This knight, that of his grace wil grant 
 
 Forto fyght with the geant. 2320 
 
 On knese thai fel doun to his fete. 
 
 And thanked him with wordes swete. 
 
 A, god forbede, said sir Ywain, 
 
 That the sister of sir Gawayn, 
 
 Or any other of his blode bom. 
 
 Sold on this wise knel me byforn. 
 
 He toke tham up tyte both in fer, 
 
 And prayd tham to amend thair char : 
 
 " And praias fast to god alswa. 
 
 That i may venge yow or yowr fa, 2330 
 
 And that he cum swilk tyme of day, 
 
 That i by tyme may wend my way, 
 
 For to do another dede. 
 
 For sertes theder most i nede ; 
 
T72 Ancient English 
 
 Sertes i wald noght tham byswike, 
 Forto win this kinges rike." 
 His thoght was on that damysel 
 That he left in the chapel. 
 Thai said, he es of grete renowne, 
 For with him dwels the lyoun ; 2340 
 
 Ful wele confort war thai all, 
 Bath in bour and als in hall ; 
 Ful glad war thai of thair gest, 
 And when tyme was at go to rest, 
 The lady broght him to his bed, 
 And for the lyoun sho was adred, 
 Na man durst neght ' his chamber ner. 
 Fro thai war broght thar-yn in far. 
 Sone at mom, when it was day. 
 
 The lady and the fayr may 2350 
 
 Til Ywayn chamber went thai sone. 
 And the dor thai have undone. 
 Sir Ywayn to the kyrk yede, 
 Or he did any other dede ; 
 He herd the servise of the day. 
 And sethin to the knyght gan say : 
 Sir, he said, now most i wend, 
 Lenger her dar i noght lende. 
 Til other place byhoves me far. 
 Than had the knyght ful mekel car. 2360 
 
 He said, Syr, dwells a litel thraw. 
 For luf of Gawayn that ye knaw, 
 Socor us now or ye wende, 
 I sal yow gif, with-owten ende. 
 Half my land, with toun and tour. 
 And ye wil help us in this stour. 
 Sir Ywayn said, Nai, god forbede. 
 That i sold take any mede. 
 Than was grete dole, so god me glade, 
 To se the sorow that thai made, 2370 
 
 Of tham sir Ywayn had grete pete, 
 Him thoght his hert myght breke in thre ; 
 For in grete dede ay gan he dwell, 
 For the mayden in the chapell, 
 For sertes if sho war done to ded. 
 Of him war than none other rede, 
 Bot oither he sold hym-selven sla, 
 Or wode ogain to the wod ga. 
 
 1 Conjectural emendation : ncgh. 
 
Metrical Romances. 173 
 
 Ryght with that thar come a grome, 
 
 And said tham that geant come ; 2380 
 
 Yowr sons bringes he him byforn, 
 
 Wei ner naked als thai war born. 
 
 With wreched ragges war thai kled, 
 
 And fast bunden thus er thai led. 
 
 The geant was bath large and lang, 
 
 And bar a lever of yren ful Strang, 
 
 Tharwith he pet tham bitterly, r 
 
 Grete rewth it was to her tham cry, 
 
 Thai had no thing tham forto hyde. 
 
 A dwergh yode on the tother syde ; 2390 
 
 He bar a scowrge with cordes ten, 
 
 Thar-with he bet tha gentil men. 
 
 Ever onane, als he war wode, 
 
 Efter ilka band brast out the blode ; 
 
 And, when thai at the walles were, 
 
 He cried loud that men might her : 
 
 If thou wil have thi sons in hele, 
 
 Deliver me that damysele, 
 
 I sal hir gif to warisowne 
 
 Ane of the foulest quisteroun ' 2400 
 
 That ever yit ete any brede, 
 
 He sal have hir mayden-hede, 
 
 Thar sal none other lig hir by 
 
 Bot naked herlotes and lowsy. 
 
 When the lord thir words herd, 
 
 Als he war wode for wa he ferd. 
 
 Sir Ywayn than, that was curtays, 
 
 Unto, the knyght ful sone he sais, 
 
 This geant es ful fers and fell. 
 
 And of his wordes ful kruell, 2410 
 
 I sal deliver hir of his aw, 
 
 Or els be ded within a thraw ; 
 
 For sertes it war a misaventur 
 
 That so gentil a creature 
 
 Sold ever so foul hap byfall, 
 
 To be defouled with a thrall. 
 
 Sone was he armed, sir Ywayn, 
 
 Tharfor the ladies war ful fayn ; 
 
 Thai helped to lace him in his wede,' 
 
 ' This is an ordinary incident in old romances ; in allusion to which don Quixote 
 was disarmed by the ladies of the castle. See B. i, C. 2. 
 " Nuncafuera catalUro 
 
 De damas tan Hen. servido, 
 Comofuera don Quixote, 
 Quando de su aldea vino 
 
174 Ancient English 
 
 And sone he lepe up on his stede ; ^420 
 
 Thai prai to god that grace him grant, 
 For to sla that foul geant ; 
 The draw-brigges war laten doun, 
 And forth he rides with his lioun. 
 Ful mani sari murnand man 
 Left he in the kastel than, 
 That, on thair knese, to god of might, 
 Praied ful hertly for the knyght." 
 Syr Ywan rade into the playne, 
 And the geant come hym ogayne, 2430 
 
 His levore was ful grete and lang, 
 And himself ful mekyl and Strang. 
 He said, What devil made the so balde 
 Forto cum heder out of thi halde ? 
 Who so ever the heder send 
 Lufed the litel, so god me mend, 
 Of the he wald be wroken fayn. 
 Do forth thi best, said sir Ywan. 
 Al the armure he was yn 
 
 Was noght bot of a bul-skyn. 2440 
 
 Sir Ywayn was to ,him ful prest, 
 He strake to him in middes the brest. 
 The sper was both stif and gode, 
 Whar it toke bit out-brast the blode ; 
 So fast sir Ywayn on yt soght 
 The bul-scyn availed noght. 
 The geant stombild with the dynt. 
 And unto sir Ywayn he mynt, 
 And on the shelde he hit ful fast, 
 It was a mervayl that it myght last ; 2450 
 
 The levor bended thar-with-all. 
 With grete force he let it fall. 
 The geant was so strong and wight 
 That never for no dint of knyght, 
 Ne for batayl that he sold make, 
 Wald he none other wapyn take. 
 
 Doncellas curaban del, 
 Princesas de su rocino." 
 
 Never was there cavalero 
 
 So well served by a dame, 
 As the famous knight, don Quixote, 
 
 When he from his village came : 
 Care of him took damsels dainty, 
 
 Princesses of Rozinante. 
 ' Between this and the next Hne the MS. reads — 
 
 " Here es the myddes of this boke." 
 
Metrical Romances. i7S 
 
 Sir Ywain left his sper of hand, 
 
 And strake obout him with his brand, 
 
 And the geant, mekil of mayn, 
 
 Strake ful fast to him ogayn, 2460 
 
 Til at the last within a throw 
 
 He rest him on his sadel-bow. 
 
 And that percaj^ed his lioun. 
 
 That his hevid so hanged doun, 
 
 He hopid that hys lord was hyrt. 
 
 And to the geant sone he styrt, 
 
 The scyn and fless bath rafe he down, 
 
 Fro his hals to hys cropoun ; 
 
 His ribbes myght men so onane. 
 
 For al was bar unto bane. 2470 
 
 At the lyown oft he mynt. 
 
 Bet ever he lepis fro his dynt. 
 
 So that no strake on him lyght. 
 
 By than was Ywain cumen to myght. 
 
 Than wil he wreke him if he may : 
 
 The geant gaf he ful gude pay, 
 
 He smate oway al his left cheke. 
 
 His sholder als of gan he kleke. 
 
 That both his levor and his hand 
 
 Fel doun law open the land, 2480 
 
 Sethin with a stoke to him he stert, 
 
 And smate the geant unto the hert ; 
 
 Than was nane other tale to tell, 
 
 Bot fast unto the erth he fell, 
 
 Als it had bene a hevy tre. 
 
 Than myght men in the kastel se 
 
 Ful mekil mirth on ilka side. 
 
 The yates kest thai opyn wyde ; 
 
 The lord unto syr Ywaine ran, 
 
 Him foloud many a joyful man, 2490 
 
 Also the lady ran ful fast. 
 
 And hir doghter was noght the last. 
 
 I may noght tel the joy thai had, 
 
 And the four brether war ful glad, 
 
 For thai war out of bales broght. 
 
 The lord wist it helpid noght 
 
 At pray sir Ywayn forto dwell. 
 
 For tales that he byfor gan tell, 
 
 Bot hertly, with his myght and mayn, 
 
 He praied him forto cum ogayn, 2500 
 
 And dwel with him a litel stage, 
 
 When he had done hys vassage. 
 
 He said, Sir, that may i noght do, 
 
 Bileves wele, for me bus go. 
 
176 Ancient English 
 
 Tham was ful wo he wald noght dwell, 
 Bot fain thai war that it so fell. 
 
 The neghest way than gan he wele, 
 Until he come to the chapele, 
 Thar he fand a mekil fir, 
 
 And the mayden with lely lire, 2510 
 
 In hyr smok was bunden fast, 
 Into the fir forto be kast. 
 Unto himself he said in hy. 
 And prayed to god al-myghty, 
 That he sold, for his mekil myght. 
 Save fro shame that swete wight : 
 " Yf thai be many, and mekil of pryse, 
 I sal let for no kouwardise, 
 For with me es bath god and right, 
 And thai sal help me forto fight, 2520 
 
 And my lyon sal help me. 
 Than er we four ogayns tham thre." 
 
 Sir Ywa3m rides, and cries then, 
 Habides, i bid yow, fals men ! 
 It semes wele that ye er wode, 
 That wil spill this sakles blode, 
 Ye sal noght so yf that i may : 
 His lyown made hym redy way. 
 Naked he saw the mayden stand. 
 Behind hit bunden aither hand, 2530 
 
 Than sighed Ywain wonder oft, 
 Unnethes might he S3rt oloft, 
 Thar was no sembland tham bitwene. 
 That ever owther had other sene. 
 Al obout hyr myght men se 
 Ful mykel sorow and grete pete, 
 Of other ladies that thar were, 
 Wepeand with ful sory cher. 
 Lord, thai sayd, what es our gylt ? 
 Our joy, our confort, sal be spilt ; 2540 
 
 Who sal now our erandes say ? 
 Alias, who sal now for us pray ? 
 Whils thai thus karped was Lunet 
 On knese byfor the prest set, 
 Of hir syns hir forto schrive. 
 And unto hir he went bylive, 
 Hir hand he toke and up sho rase : 
 Leman, he sayd, whor er thi fase ? 
 " Sir, lo tham yonder, in yone stede, 
 Bideand until i be ded ; 2550 
 
 Thai have demed me with wrang, 
 Wei ner had ye dwelt over lang 
 
Metrical Romances. 177 
 
 I pray to god he do yow mede, 
 
 That ye wald help me in this nede." 
 
 Thir wordes herd than the steward, 
 
 He hies him unto hir ful hard, 
 
 He said. Thou lies, fals woman, 
 
 For thi treson ertow tane : — 
 
 Sho has bitraied hir lady, 
 
 And, sir, so wil sho the in hy ; 2560 
 
 And, tharfor, syr, by goddes dome, 
 
 I rede thou wend right als thou com ; 
 
 Thou takes a febil rede 
 
 If thou for hir wil suffer ded. 
 
 Unto the steward than said he, 
 Whoso es ferd i rede he fle ; 
 
 And, certes, I have bene this day 
 
 Whar i had ful large pay ; 
 
 And yit, he sayd, i sal noght fail : 
 
 To tham he waged the batayl. 2570 
 
 Do away thi lioun, said the steward, 
 
 For that es noght our forward ; 
 
 Allane sal thou fight with us thre. 
 
 And unto him thus answerd he : 
 
 Of my lioun no help i crave, 
 
 I ne have none other fote-knave, 
 
 If he wil do yow any dere 
 
 I rede wele that ye yow wer. 
 
 The steward said, On alkins wise, 
 
 Thi lyoun, sir, thou most chastise, 2580 
 
 That he do her no harm this day, 
 
 Or els wend forth on thi way ; 
 
 For his warand mai thou noght be, 
 
 Bot thou allane fight with us thre. 
 
 Al thir men wote, and so wote i. 
 
 That sho bitrayed hir lady, - 
 
 Als traytur^s sal sho have hyr, 
 
 Sho be brent her in this fir. 
 
 Sir Ywayn sa[i]d, Nai god forbede ! 
 
 (He wist wele how the soth yede) 2590 
 
 I trow to wreke hir with the best. 
 
 He bad his lyoun go to rest. 
 
 And he laid him sone onane 
 
 Doun byfor tham everilk ane, 
 
 Bitwene his legges he layd his tail. 
 
 And so biheld to the batayl. 
 
 Al thre thai ride to sir Ywayn, 
 
 And smertly rides he tham ogayn. 
 
 In that time nothing tint he. 
 
 For his an strake was worth thaires thre ; 2600 
 
178 Ancient English 
 
 He strake the steward on the shelde, 
 
 That he fel doun flat in the felde, 
 
 Bot op he rase yit at the last, 
 
 And to sir Ywayn strake ful fast ; 
 
 Tharat the lyoun greved sare, 
 
 No lenger wald he than hg thar, 
 
 To help his mayster he went onane ; 
 
 And the ladies everilk ane, 
 
 That war thar forte se that fight, 
 
 Praied ful fast ay for the knight. 2610 
 
 The lyoun hasted him ful hard, 
 And sone he come to the steward, 
 A ful fel mjmt to him he made. 
 He bigan at the shulder-blade, 
 And with his pawm al rafe he downe, 
 Bath hauberk and his actoune, 
 And al the fless doun til his kne. 
 So that men myght his guttes se ; 
 To ground he fell, so al to-rent. 
 
 Was thar no man that him ment. 2620 
 
 Thus the lioun gan hym sla : 
 Than war thai bot twa and twa ; 
 And, sertanly, thare sir Ywayn 
 Als with wordes did his main 
 For to chastis hys lyowne, 
 Bot he ne wald na mor lig doun ; 
 The liown thoght how so he sayd, ' 
 That with his help he was wele payd. 
 Thai smate the lyown on ilka syd, 
 And gaf him many woundes wide. 2630 
 
 When that he saw hys lyoun blede 
 He ferd for wa als wald wede. 
 And fast he strake than in that stour, 
 Might thare none his dintes dour ; 
 So grevosly than he bygan. 
 That doun he bar bath hors and man ; 
 Thai yald tham sone to sir Ywayn, 
 And tharof war the folk ful fayne ; 
 And sone quit to tham thaire hir. 
 For both he kest tham in the fir, 2640 
 
 And said, Wha juges men with wrang, 
 The same jugement sal thai fang. 
 Thus he helpid the maiden ying. 
 And sethin he made the saghtelyng 
 Bitwene hyr and the riche lady ; 
 Than al the folk, ful hastily, 
 Proferd tham to his servise. 
 To wirship him ever on al wise ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 179 
 
 Nane of tham al wist, bot Lunet, 
 
 That thai with thair lord war met. 2650 
 
 The lady prayed him als the hend, 
 
 That he hame with tham wald wende, 
 
 Forto sojom thar a stownd, 
 
 Til he wer warist of his wound. 
 
 By his sar set he noght a stra, 
 
 Bot for his lioun was him wa. 
 
 Madame, he said, sertes, Bay, 
 
 I mai nog-ht dwel, the soth to say. 
 
 Sho said, Sir, sen thou wyl wend, 
 
 Sai us thi name, so god the mend. 2660 
 
 Madame, he said, bi saint Symoun, 
 
 I hat the knight with the lyoun. 
 
 Sho said, We saw yow never or now, 
 
 Ne never herd we speke of yow. 
 
 Tharby, he sayd, ye understand 
 
 I am noght knawen wide in land. 
 
 Sho said, I prai the forto dwell, 
 
 If that thou may, her us omell. 
 
 If sho had wist wale wha it was, 
 
 Sho wald wele lever have laten him pas ; 2670 
 
 And tharfor wald he noght be knawen. 
 
 Both for hir ese and for his awyn. 
 
 He said. No lenger dwel i ne may, 
 
 Beleves wele, and haves goday. 
 
 I prai to Crist, hevyn kyng, 
 
 Lady, len yow gude lifing, 
 
 And len grace that al yowr anoy 
 
 May turn yow unto mykel joy. 
 
 Sho said, God grant that it so be ! 
 
 Unto himself than thus said he, 2680 
 
 Thou ert the lok and kay also 
 
 Of al my wele, and al my wo, 
 
 Now wendes he forth, and morning mase, 
 
 And nane of tham wist what he was, 
 
 Bot Lunet, that he bad sold layn, 
 
 And so sho did with al hir mayne. 
 
 Sho canvayd him forth on his way ; 
 
 He said, Gude leman,'i the pray. 
 
 That thou tel to no moder son 
 
 Who has bene thi champion ; 2690 
 
 And als i pray the, swete wight. 
 
 Late and arly thou do the might, 
 
 With speche unto my lady fre, 
 
 Forto make hir frende with me ; 
 
 Sen ye er now togeder glade, 
 
 Help you that we war frendes made : 
 
Ancient Emlish 
 
 Sertes, sir, sho sayd, ful fayn, 
 
 Thar-obout wil i be bayn ; 
 
 And that ye have done me this day 
 
 God do yow mede, als he wele may. 27°° 
 
 Of Lunet thus his leve he tase, 
 
 Bot in hert grete sorow he hase. 
 
 His lioun feled so mekill wa 
 
 That he ne myght no ferrer ga ; 
 
 Sir Ywayn puld gres in the felde, 
 
 And made a kouche opon his shelde, 
 
 Tharon his lyoun laid he thar, 
 
 And forth he rides, and sighes sar : 
 
 On his shelde so he him led. 
 
 Than was he ful evyl sted. -?7io 
 
 Forth he rides, by frith and fell, 
 
 Til he come to a fayr castell, 
 
 Thar he cald and swith sone 
 
 The porter has the yates undone, 
 
 And to him made he ful gude char ; 
 
 He said. Sir, ye er welcum here 
 
 Syr Ywayn said, God do the mede. 
 
 For tharof have i mekil nede. 
 
 Yn he rode right at the yate. 
 
 Fair folk kepid him tharate ; 2720 
 
 Thai toke his shelde and his lyoun. 
 
 And ful softly thai laid it doun ; 
 
 Sum to stabil led his stede, 
 
 And sum also unlaced his wede : 
 
 Thai told the lorde than of that knyght 
 
 And sone he and his lady bryght 
 
 And thair sons and doghters all. 
 
 Come ful fair him forto kail ; 
 
 Thai war ful fayn he thor was sted, 
 
 To chaumber sone thai have him led ; 2730 
 
 His bed was ordand richely, 
 
 And his lioun thai laid him by. 
 
 Him was no mister forto crave, 
 
 Redy he had what he wald have. 
 
 Twa maydens with him thai laft, 
 
 That wele war lered of leche-craft.' 
 
 ' A knowledge of medicine seems to have been part of the educaiion of the fair 
 sex in ancient times. See Memoires sur Vancienne chevalerie, I, 14. In Mori 
 d' Arthur, sir Tristram is put in the ward and Iceeping of La beale Isoud, king 
 Anguishe's daughter, "because she was a noble surgion." Her namesake, 
 Isewlt aux blanches mains, was equally expert and successful. See, likewise, (he 
 Histoire de Gerard comte de Nevers if de Buriant de Savoye sa mye, T. i, 
 C. 19, 20. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 The lordes doghters both thai wore, 
 That war left to kepe hym thore ; 
 Thai heled hym everilka wound, 
 
 And hys lyoun sone made thai sownd. 2740 
 
 I can noght tel how lang he lay, 
 When he was helyd he went his way. 
 But whils he sojomed in that place, 
 In that land byfel this case : 
 A litil thethin in a stede 
 A grete lord of the land was ded, 
 Lifand he had none other ayr 
 Bot two doghters that war ful fayr ; 
 Als sone as he was laid in molde, 
 The elder sister sayd sho wolde 2750 
 
 Wend to court sone als sho myght, 
 Forto get hir som doghty knyght 
 Forto win hir al the land. 
 And hald it halely in hir hand. 
 The yonger sister saw sho ne myght 
 Have that fell until hir right, 
 Bot if that it war by batail. 
 To court sho wil at ask cownsayl. 
 The elder sister sone was yar, 
 
 Unto the court fast gan sho far, 2760 
 
 To sir Gawayn sho made hir mane, 
 And he has granted hyr onane : 
 " Bot yt bus be so prevely 
 That nane wit bot thou and i ; 
 If thou of me makes any yelp. 
 Lorn has thou al my help." 
 Then after, on the tother day. 
 Unto kourt come the tother may, 
 And to sir Gawayn sone sho went. 
 And talde unto him hir entent ; 2770 
 
 Of his help sho him bysoght. 
 Sertes, he sayd, that may i noght. 
 Than sho wepe and wrang hir handes. 
 And right with that come new tithandes. 
 How a knyght with a lyoun 
 Had slane a geant ful feloun. 
 The same knight thar talde this tale 
 That syr Ywayn broght fra bale, 
 That had wedded Gawayn sister der, 
 Sho and hir sons war thar in fer ; 2780 
 
 Thai broght the dwergh, that be ye balde, 
 And to sir Gawayn have thai talde. 
 How the knyght with the lyowne 
 Delivred tham out of presowne, 
 
 13 
 
1 82 Ancient English 
 
 And how he, for sir Gawayn sake, 
 
 Gan that batayl undertake ; 
 
 And als how nobilly that he wroght. 
 
 Sir Gawayn said, I knaw him n[o]ght. 
 
 The yonger mayden than alsone 
 
 Of the king askes this bone : 2790 
 
 To have respite of fourti dais, 
 
 Als it fel to landes lays. 
 
 Sho wist thar was no man of main 
 
 That wald fyght with sir Gawayn, 
 
 She thoght to seke, by frith and fell, 
 
 The knyght that sho herd tham of tell. 
 
 Respite was granted of this thing, 
 
 The mayden toke leve at [the] king, 
 
 And sethen at al the baronage. 
 
 And forth sho went on hir vayage. 2800 
 
 Day ne nyght wald sho noght spar, 
 
 Thurgh all the land fast gan sho far, 
 
 Thurgh castel, and thurgh ilka toun. 
 
 To seke the knight with the lyown ; 
 
 " He helpes al in word and dede, 
 
 That unto him has any nede." 
 Sho soght him thurgh al that land, 
 
 Bot of hym herd sho na tythand. 
 
 Na man kouth tel hir whar he was, 
 
 Ful grete sorow in hert sho has, 2810 
 
 So mikel murning gan sho make, 
 
 That a grete sekenes gan sho take ; 
 
 Bot in hir way right wele sho sped. 
 
 At that kastell was sho sted 
 
 Whar sir Ywayn ar had bene 
 
 Helid of his sekenes clene. 
 
 Thar sho was ful wele knawen, 
 
 And als welcum als til hyr awyn , 
 
 With alkyn gamyn thai gan hir glade, 
 
 And viikel joy of hir thai made. 2820 
 
 Unto the lord sho tald hyr case, 
 
 And helping hastily sho hase ; 
 
 Stil in lecheing thar sho lay, 
 
 A maiden for hir toke the way, 
 
 Forto seke, yf that sho myght 
 
 In any land her of that knyght ; 
 
 And that same kastel come sho by. 
 
 Whar Ywayn wedded the lavedy. 
 
 And saft sho spird, in ylk sesown, 
 
 Efter the knight with the lioun. 2830 
 
 Thai tald hir how he went tham fira. 
 
 And also how they saw him sla 
 
Metrical Romances. 183 
 
 Thre nobil knyghtes, for the nanes, 
 
 That faght with him al at anes. 
 
 Sho said, Pur charite, i yow pray, 
 
 If that ye wate, wil ye me say, 
 
 Whederward that he as went ? 
 
 Thai said forsoth thai toke na tent : 
 
 " Ne her es nane that the can tell, 
 
 Bot if it be a damysell, 2840 
 
 For whas sake he heder come, 
 
 And for hir the batyl he noma ; 
 
 We trow wele that sho can the wis. 
 
 Yonder in yone kyrk sho ys ; 
 
 Tharfor we rede to hyr thou ga :" 
 
 And hastily than did sho swa. 
 
 Aither other ful gudeli gret. 
 
 And sone sho frayned at Lunet, 
 
 If sho kouth ani sertan sayne ; 
 
 And hendly answerd sho oga)fne : 2850 
 
 I sal sadel my palfray. 
 
 And wend with the forth on thi way. 
 
 And wis the als wele als i can. 
 
 Ful oft-sithes thanked sho hir than. 
 
 Lunet was ful smertly yar, 
 
 And with the mayden forth gan sho far, 
 
 Als thai went al sho hyr talde, 
 
 How sho was taken and done in halde, 
 
 How wikkedly that sho was wreghed, 
 
 And how that traytyrs on hir leghed, 2860 
 
 And how that sho sold have bene brent, 
 
 Had not god hir socor sent 
 
 Or that knight with the lyoun : 
 
 " He lesed me out of presoun." 
 
 Sho broght hir sone into a playn, 
 
 Whar sho parted fra sir Ywayn ; 
 
 Sho said, Na mare can i tel the, 
 
 Bot her parted he fra me ; 
 
 How that he went wate i no mar, 
 
 Bot wounded was he wonder sar. 2870 
 
 God, that for us sufferd wounde, 
 
 Len us to se him hale and sownde ! 
 
 No lenger with the may i dwell, 
 
 Bot cumly Crist, that heried hell, 
 
 Len the grace, that thou may spede 
 
 Of thine erand, als thou has nede. 
 
 Lunet hastily hies hir home, 
 
 And the mayden sone to the kastel come, 
 
 Whar he was helid byfor-hand. 
 
 The lord sone at the yate sho fand, 2880 
 
184 Ancient English 
 
 With knyghtes and ladies grete cumpani, 
 
 Sho haylsed tham al ful hendely, 
 
 And ful fayr praied sho to tham then, 
 
 If thai couth, thai sold hyr ken, 
 
 Whar sho myght fynd, in tour or toun, 
 
 A kumly knyght with a lyoun. 
 
 Than said the lord, By swete Jhesus, 
 
 Right now parted he fra us ; 
 
 Lo her the steppes of his stede, 
 
 Evyn unto him thai wil the lede. 2890 
 
 Than toke sho leva, and went hir way, 
 
 With sporrs sho sparid noght hir palfray ; 
 
 Fast sho hyed with al hyr myght. 
 
 Until sho of him had a syght, 
 
 And of his lyoun that by him ran, 
 
 Wonder joyful was sho than ; 
 
 And with hir force sho hasted so fast 
 
 That sho overtoke him at the last. 
 
 Sho hailsed him with hert ful fayn. 
 
 And he hir hailsed fayre ogayn. 2900 
 
 Sho said. Sir, wide have i yow soght, 
 
 And for myself ne es it noght, 
 
 Bot for a damysel of pryse. 
 
 That halden es both war and wise ; 
 
 Men dose to hir ful grete outrage. 
 
 Thai wald hir reve hyr heritage. 
 
 And in this land now lifes none 
 
 That sho traystes hyr opone, 
 
 Bot anly opon god and the. 
 
 For thou ert of so grete bounte ; 2910 
 
 Thorgh help of the sho hopes wele 
 
 To win hyr right everilka dele. 
 
 Scho sais, no knyght that lifes now 
 
 Mai help hir half so wele als thou : 
 
 Gret word sal gang of thi vassage, 
 
 If that thou win hir heritage ; 
 
 For thoght sho toke slike sekenes sar, 
 
 So that sho might travail no mar, 
 
 I have yow soght on sydes ser, 
 
 Tharfor yowr answer wald i her, 2920 
 
 Whether ye wil with me wend, 
 
 Or els whar yow likes to lend. 
 
 He said. That knyght that idil lies 
 
 Oft-sithes winnes ful litel pries, 
 
 For-thi mi rede sal sone be tane. 
 
 Gladly with the wil 1 gane, 
 
 Wheder so thou wil me lede. 
 
 And hertly help the in thi nede ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 185 
 
 Sen thou haves me so wide soght, 
 
 Sertes fail the sal i noght. 2930 
 
 Thus thair wai forth gan thai hald, 
 Until a kastel, that was cald 
 The castel of the hevy sorow, 
 Thar wald he bide until the morow, 
 Thar to habide him thoght it best, 
 For the son drogh fast to rest ; 
 Bot al the men that thai with met, 
 Grete wonder sone on tham thai set ; 
 And [seyde]. Thou wreche unsely man, 
 Whi wil thou her thi herber tane ? 2940 
 
 Thou passes noght without despite. 
 Sir Ywain answerd tham als tyte, 
 And said, Forsoth, ye er unhende, 
 An unkouth man so forto shende ; 
 Ye sold noght say hym velany, 
 Bot if ye wist encheson why. 
 Thai answerd than, and said ful sone, 
 Thou sal wit or tomom at none. 
 Syr Ywaine said, For al yowr saw. 
 Unto yon castel wil i draw. 2950 
 
 He, and his lyoun, and the may. 
 Unto the castel toke the way. 
 When the porter of tham had sight, 
 Sone he said unto the knight, 
 Cumes forth, he said, ye altogeder, 
 Ful ille hail er ye cumen heder. 
 Thus war thai welkumd at the yate. 
 And yit thai went al in tharate. 
 Unto the porter no word thai said, 
 A hal thai fand ful gudeli graid ; 2960 
 
 And, als sir Ywaine made entre, 
 Fast bisyde him than saw he 
 A proper place, and fair, i wis. 
 Enclosed obout with a palis. 
 He loked in bitwix the trese. 
 And many maidens thar he sese, 
 Wirkand silk and gold wir, 
 Bot thai war al in pover atir, 
 Thair clothes war reven on evil arai, 
 Ful tenderly al weped thai ; 2970 
 
 Thair face war lene and als unclene. 
 And blak smokkes had thai on bidene ; 
 Thai had mischefs ful manifalde, 
 Of hunger, of threst, and of calde ; 
 And ever onane thai weped all, 
 Als thai wald to water fall. 
 
i86 Ancient English. 
 
 When Ywaine al this understode, 
 
 Ogayn unto the yates he yode, 
 
 Bot thai war sperred ferli fast, 
 
 With lokkes that ful wele wald last ; 2980 
 
 The porter kepid tham with his main, 
 
 And said. Sir, thou most wend ogain ; 
 
 I wate thou wald out at the yate, 
 
 Bot thou mai noght, by na gate ; 
 
 Thi herber es tane til to-morow. 
 
 And tharfor getes thou mekill sorow ; 
 
 Omang thi fase her sted ertow. 
 
 He said. So have i bene or now, 
 
 And past ful wele, so sal i her ; 
 
 Bot, leve frend, wiltou me ler 2990 
 
 Of thise maidens what thai ar. 
 
 That wirkes al this riche ware ? 
 
 He said. If thou wil wit trewly, 
 
 Forthermar thou most aspy. 
 
 Tharfore, he said, i sail n[o]ght lett. 
 
 He soght and fand a dern weket, 
 
 He opind it, and in he yede : 
 
 Maidens, he said, god mot yow spede ! 
 
 And, als he sufferd woundes sar. 
 
 He send yow covering of yowr car, 3000 
 
 So that ye might mak merier chare. 
 
 Sir, thai said, god gif so wer ! 
 
 Yowr sorow, he said, unto me say, 
 
 And i sal mend it yf i may. 
 
 Ane of tham answerd ogayne. 
 
 And said. The soth we sal noght la3rae, 
 
 We sal yow tel or ye ga ferr, 
 
 Why we er here, and what we err. 
 
 Sir, ye sal understand. 
 
 That we er al of Mayden-land, 3010 
 
 Our kyng, opon his jolite. 
 
 Passed thurgh many cuntre, 
 
 Aventures to spir and spy, 
 
 Forto asay his owen body. 
 
 His herber her anes gan he ta. 
 
 That was biginyng of our wa. 
 
 For heryn er twa champions, 
 
 Men sais thai er the devil sons, 
 
 Geten of a woman with a ram, 
 
 Ful many man have thai done gram ; 3020 
 
 What knight so herbers her anyght 
 
 With both at ones bihoves him fight. 
 
 So bus the do, by bel and boke : 
 
 Alas, that thou thine yns her toke J 
 
Metrical Romances. 187 
 
 Our king was wight himself to welde, 
 
 And of fourtene yeres of elde, 
 
 When he was tane with tham to fyght, 
 
 Bot unto tham had he no myght, 
 
 And when he saw him bud be ded, 
 
 Than he kouth no better rede, 3030 
 
 Bot did him haly in thair grace, 
 
 And made tham suret6 in that place, 
 
 Forto yeld tham ilka yer, 
 
 So that he sold be hale and fer, 
 
 Threty maidens to trowage, 
 
 And al sold be of hegh parage, 
 
 And the fairest of his land ; 
 
 Herto held he up his hand. 
 
 This ilk rent byhoves hym gyf, 
 
 Als lang als the fendes lyf, 3040 
 
 Or til thai be in batayl tane, 
 
 Or els unto thai be al slane. 
 
 Then sal we pas al hethin quite. 
 
 That her suffers al this despite ; 
 
 Bot herof es noght for speke, 
 
 Es none in werld that us mai wreke. 
 
 We wirk her silver, silk and golde, 
 
 Es none richer on this molde, 
 
 And never the better er we kled. 
 
 And in grete hunger er we sted ; 305° 
 
 For al that we wirk in this stede, 
 
 We have noght half our fil of brede, 
 
 For the best that sewes her any styk. 
 
 Takes bot four penys in a wik, 
 
 And that es litel, wha-som tase hede, 
 
 Any of us to kleth and fede. 
 
 Ilkone of us, withouten lesyng, 
 
 Might win ilk wike fourty shilling, 
 
 And yit bot if we travail mar. 
 
 Oft thai bete us wonder sar : 3060 
 
 It helpes noght to tel this tale. 
 
 For thar bese never bote of our bale. 
 
 Our maste sorow, sen we bigan. 
 
 That es, that we se mani a man, 
 
 Doghty dukes, yrels, and barouns, 
 
 Oft-sithes slane with thir champiowns. 
 
 With tham to-mom bihoves the fight. 
 
 Sir Ywayn said, God, maste of myght, 
 
 Sal strenkith me in ilka dede, 
 
 Ogains tha devils and al thair drede : 3070 
 
 That lord deliver yow of yowr fase. 
 
 Thus takes he Igve and forth he gase. 
 
1 88 Ancient English 
 
 He passed forth into the hall, 
 
 Thar fand he no man him to call, 
 
 No bewtese wald thai to him bede, 
 
 Bot hastily thai toke his stede. 
 
 And also the maydens palfray. 
 
 War served wele with com and hay : 
 
 For wele thai hoped that sir Ywayn 
 
 Sold never have had his stede ogayn. 3080 
 
 Thurgh the hal Sir Ywain gase, 
 
 Intil ane orcherd playn pase. 
 
 His maiden with him ledes he, 
 
 He fand a knyght under a tre, 
 
 Opon a clath of gold he lay, 
 
 Byfor him sat a ful fayr may ; 
 
 A lady sat with tham in fere. 
 
 The mayden red at thai myght her 
 
 A real romance in that place, 
 
 Bot i ne wote of wham it was. 3090 
 
 Sho was bot fiftene yeres aide. 
 
 The knyght was lord of al that halde, 
 
 And that mayden was his ayre, 
 
 Sho was both gracious, gode, and far. 
 
 Sone when thai saw sir Ywaine, 
 
 Smertly raise thai hym ogayne. 
 
 And by the hand the lord him tase. 
 
 And unto him grete myrth he mase. 
 
 He said. Sir, by swete Jhesus, 
 
 Thou ert ful welcum until us. 3100 
 
 The mayden was bowsom and bayne 
 
 Forto unarme syr Ywajme, 
 
 Serk and breke bath sho hym broght, 
 
 That ful craftily war wroght. 
 
 Of riche cloth soft als the sylk. 
 
 And tharto white als any mylk. 
 
 Sho broght hym ful riche wedes to wer, 
 
 Hose and shose and alkins ger, 
 
 Sho payned hir with al hir myght. 
 
 To serve him and his mayden bright. 3 no 
 
 Sone thai went unto spper, 
 
 Ful really served thai wer. 
 
 With ntetes' and drinkes of the best, 
 
 And sethin war thai broght to rest. 
 
 In his chaumber by hym lay 
 
 His owin lyoun and his may ; 
 
 At morn, when it was dayes lyght. 
 
 Up thai rase, and sone tham dyght ; 
 
 Sir Ywayn and hys damysele 
 
 Went ful sone til a chapele, 3120 
 
Metrical Romances. 189 
 
 And thar thai herd a mes in haste,' 
 That was sayd of the haly gaste ; 
 Efter mes ordand he has 
 Forth on his way fast forto pas ; 
 At the lord hys leve he tase, 
 And grate thanking to him he mase. 
 The lord said, Tak it to na greve. 
 To gang hethin yit getes thou na leve ; 
 Herein es ane unsely law. 
 
 That has bene used of aid daw, 3130 
 
 And bus be done for frend or fa ; 
 I sal do com b3rfor the twa 
 Grete serjantes of mekil myght. 
 And whether it be wrang or right. 
 Thou most tak the shelde and sper, 
 Ogaynes tham the forto were. 
 If thou overcum tham in this stour. 
 Than sal thou have al this honour. 
 And my doghter in mariage. 
 
 And also al myne heritage. 3140 
 
 Then said, sir Ywayn, Als mot i the, 
 Thi doghter sal thou have for me, 
 For a king or ane emperour 
 May hir wed with grete honour. 
 The lord said. Her sal cum na knyght, 
 That he ne sal with twa champions fight ; 
 So sal thou do on al wise, 
 For it es knawen custum assise. 
 Sir Ywaine said. Sen i sal so, 
 
 Than es the best that i may do 3150 
 
 To put me baldly in thair hend, 
 And tak the grace that god wil send. 
 The champions sone war forth broght, 
 Sir Ywain sais. By him me boght. 
 Ye seme wele the devils sons. 
 For i saw never swilk champions. 
 Aither broght unto the place 
 A mikel rownd talvace. 
 And a klub, ful grete and lang, 
 
 Thik fret with mani a thwang ;^ 3160 
 
 On bodies armyd wele thai war, 
 Bot thar hades bath war bar. 
 
 1 This was usual : — "he had with him right good chere, and fared of the best, 
 with passing good wine, and had merry rest that night ; and on the morrow he 
 heard a masse, and after dined, &'c." [Mart d' Arthur, P. i, C. 56.) Again : " On 
 the morrow the damosell and sir Beaumains heard masse, and bralie their fast, and 
 so tooke their leave." (P. s., C. 132.) 
 
 2 The original reads " thawang." 
 
19° Ancient English 
 
 The lioun bremly on tham blist, 
 
 When he tham saw, ful wele he wist 
 
 That thai sold with his mayster fight, 
 
 He thoght to help him at his myght ; 
 
 With his tayl the erth he dang, 
 
 Forto fyght him thoght ful lang ; 
 
 Of him aparty had thai drede. 
 
 Thai said, Syr knight, thou most nede 3>7o 
 
 Do thi lioun out of this place, 
 
 For to us makes he grete manace, 
 
 Or yelde the til us als creant. 
 
 He said. That war noght mine avenant. 
 
 Thai said, Than do thi beste oway. 
 
 And als sone sal we samyn play. 
 
 He said. Sirs, if ye be agast. 
 
 Takes the beste and bindes him fast. 
 
 Thai said. He sal be bun or slane. 
 
 For help of him sal thou have nana ; 3180 
 
 Thi self allane sal with us fight. 
 
 For that es custume, and the right. 
 
 Than said sir Ywain to tham sone, 
 
 Whar wil ye that the best be done ? 
 
 " In a chamber he sal be loken, 
 
 With gude lokkes ful stifly stoken." 
 
 Sir Ywain led than his lioun 
 
 Intil a chamber to presoun ; 
 
 Than war bath tha devils ful balde, 
 
 When the lioun was in halde. 3190 
 
 Sir Ywayn toke his nobil wede, 
 
 And dight him yn, for he had nede. 
 
 And on his nobil stede he strade, 
 
 And baldely to tham bath he rade. 
 
 His mayden was ful sar adred. 
 
 That he was so straitly sted. 
 
 And unto god fast gan sho pray, 
 
 Forto wyn him wele oway. 
 
 Than strake thai on him wonder sar, 
 
 With thair clubbes that full Strang war, 3200 
 
 Opon his shelde so fast thai feld. 
 
 That never a pece with other held ; 
 
 Wonder it es that any man 
 
 Might bar the strakas that he toke than. 
 
 Mister haved he of socour, 
 
 For he come never in swilk a stour, 
 
 Bot manly evyr with al his mayn. 
 
 And graithly hit he tham ogayn, 
 
 And, als it telles in the boke. 
 
 He gaf the dubbil of that he toke. ' 3210 
 
Metrical Romances. 191 
 
 Ful grete sorow the lioun has, 
 In the chameber whar he was, 
 And ever he thoght opon that dede, 
 How he was helpid in his nede. 
 And he might now do na socowr 
 To him that helpid him in that stour ; 
 Might he out of the chamber breke, 
 Sone he walde his maister wreke. 
 He herd thair strakes, that war ful sterin. 
 And yern he waytes in ilka heryn, 3220 
 
 And al was made ful fast to hald ; 
 At the last he come to the thriswald, 
 The erth thar kest he up ful sone, 
 Als fast als four men sold have done, 
 If thai had broght bath bill and spade ; 
 A mekil hole ful sone he made. 
 Yn al this [tyme] was sir Ywayn 
 Ful straitly parred with mekil payn. 
 And drede he had, als him wele aght, 
 For nowther' of tham na woundes laght ; 3230 
 
 Kepe tham cowth thai wonder wele, 
 That dintes derid tham never a dele, 
 It was na wapen that man might welde 
 Might get a shever out of thair shelde. 
 Tharof cowth Ywayn no rede, 
 Sar he douted to be ded, 
 And also his damysel 
 Ful mekil mumyng^ made omell, 
 And wele sho wend he sold be slane. 
 And, sertes, than war hir socor gane ; 3240 
 
 Bot fast he stighteld in that stowr. 
 And hastily him come socowre. 
 Now es the lioun out-broken, 
 His maister sal ful sone be wroken ; 
 He rynnes fast with full fell rese, 
 Than helpid it noght to prai for pese, 
 He stirt unto that a glotowne, 
 And to the erth he brayd him downe ; 
 Than was thar nane obout that place 
 That thai ne war fayn of that fair chace ; 3250 
 
 The maiden had grete joy in hert ; 
 Thai said. He sal never rise in quert. 
 His felow fraisted with al his mayn, 
 To raise him smertly up ogayn. 
 And, right so als he stowped doun. 
 Sir Ywain with his brand was boun, 
 
 ' The original reads " Nowyr." 
 ' The original reads ' ' Mumyg^ 
 
192 Ancient English 
 
 And strake his nek-bane right in sender, 
 
 Tharof the folk had mekil wonder, 
 
 His hevid trindeld on the sand, 
 
 Thus had Ywain the hegher hand. 3260 
 
 When he had feld that fowl feloun. 
 
 Of his stede he lighted down. 
 
 His lioun on that other lay. 
 
 Now wil he help him if he may, 
 
 The lioun saw his maister cum, 
 
 And to hys part he wald have som ; 
 
 The right sholder oway he rase. 
 
 Both arm and klob with him he tase ; 
 
 And so his maister gan he wreke : 
 
 And als he might, yit gan he speke, 3270 
 
 And said. Sir knight, for thi gentry, 
 
 I prai the have of me mercy. 
 
 And by scill sal he mercy have 
 
 What man so mekely wil it crave ; 
 
 And tharfore grantes mercy to me. 
 
 Sir Ywain said, I grant it the. 
 
 If that thou wil thi selven say 
 
 That thou ert overcumen this day. 
 
 He said, I grant withowten fail, 
 
 I am overcumen in this batail, 3280 
 
 For pur ataynt and recreant. 
 
 Sir Ywayn said, Now i the grant 
 
 For to do the na mar der. 
 
 And fro my liown i sal the wer, 
 
 I grant the pese at my power. 
 
 Than come the folk ful fair in fer, 
 
 The lord and the lady als. 
 
 Thai toke him fair obout the hals. 
 
 Thai saide, Sir, now saltou be 
 
 Lord and syre in this cuntre, 3290 
 
 And wed our doghter for sertayn. 
 
 Sir Ywayn answerd than ogayn : 
 
 He said, Sen ye gif me hir now, 
 
 I gif hir evyn ogayn to yow. 
 
 Of me for ever i grant hir quite ; 
 
 Bot, sir, takes it til no despite. 
 
 For, sertes, whif may i none wed 
 
 Until my nedes be better sped ; 
 
 Bot this thing, sir, i ask of the. 
 
 That al thir prisons may pas fre ; 3300 
 
 God has granted me this chance, 
 
 I have made their delyverance. 
 
 The lord answerd than ful tyte. 
 
 And said, I grant the tham al quite ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 193 
 
 My doghter als i rede thou take, 
 
 Sho es noght worthi to forsake. 
 
 Unto the knyght sir Ywain sais, 
 
 Sir, I sal noght hir mysprays, 
 
 For sho es so curtays and hende, 
 
 That, fra hethin to the werldes ende, 3310 
 
 Es no kjmg ne emperour, 
 
 Ne no man of so grete honowr, 
 
 That he ne might wed that bird bright, 
 
 And so wald i if that i myght. 
 
 I wald hir wed with ful gude cher, 
 
 Bot lo i have a mayden her, 
 
 To folow hir now most i nede, 
 
 Wheder so sho wil me lede : 
 
 Tharfor at this time haves goday. 
 
 He said, thou passes noght so oway, 33^0 
 
 Sen thou wil noght do als i tell, 
 
 In my prison sal thou dwell. 
 
 He said. If i lay thar al my live 
 
 I sal hir never wed to wive, 
 
 For with this maiden most i wend, 
 
 Until we cum whar sho wil lend. 
 
 The lord saw it was na bote 
 
 Obout that mater mor to mote, 
 
 He gaf him leve oway to far, 
 
 Bot he had lever he had bene thar. 3330 
 
 Sir Ywayn takes than forth in fer 
 Al the prisons that thar wer, 
 Bifor hym sone thai come ilkane, 
 Nerhand naked and wobigane, 
 Stil he hoved at the yate. 
 Til thai war went al forth tharate, 
 Twa and twa ay went thai samyn. 
 And made omang tham mikel gamyn. 
 If god had cumen fra hevyn on hight. 
 And on this mold omang tham light. 3340 
 
 Thai had noght made mar joy sertain 
 Than thai made to syr Ywayne. 
 Folk of the toun com him biforn, 
 And blissed the time that he was born, 
 Of his prowes war thai wele payd, 
 In this werld es none slike, thai said ; 
 Thai cunvayd him out of the toun, 
 With ful fair processiowne. 
 The maidens than thair leve has tane, 
 Ful mekil myrth thai made ilkane ; 3350 
 
 At thair departing prayed thai thus : 
 Our lord.god, mighty Jhesus, 
 
194 Ancient English 
 
 He help yow, sir, to have yowr will, 
 And shilde yow ever fra alkyns ill. 
 Maidens, he said, god mot yow se, 
 And bring yow wale whar ye wald be. 
 Thus thair way forth er thai went, 
 Na mor unto tham wil we tent. 
 
 Sir Ywayn and his fair may 
 Al the sevenight traveld thai, 3360 
 
 The maiden knew the way ful wele 
 Hame until that ilk castele, 
 Whar sho lef the seke may. 
 And theder hastily come thai. 
 When thai come to the castel yate, 
 Sho led sir Ywain yn tharate. 
 The mayden was yit seke lyand, 
 Bot when thai talde hir this tithand. 
 That cumen was hir messager, 
 
 And the knyght with hyr in f6r, 3370 
 
 Swilk joy tharof sho had in hert, 
 ' Hir thoght that sho was al in quart. 
 Sho said, I wate my sister will 
 Gif me now that falles me till. 
 In hir hert sho was ful light, 
 Ful hendly hailsed sho the knight. 
 A, sir, sho said, god do the mede. 
 That thou wald cum in swilk a nede : 
 And al that in that kastel wer 
 
 Welkumd him with meri cher. 3380 
 
 I can noght say, so god me glade. 
 Half the myrth that thai him made. 
 That night he had ful nobil rest. 
 With alkins esraent of the best. 
 Als sone als the day was sent. 
 Thai ordaind tham and forth thai went. 
 Until that town fast gan thai ride 
 Whar the kyng sojorned that tide, 
 And thar the elder sister lay, 
 
 Redy forto kepe hyr day. 3350 
 
 Sho traisted wele on sir Gawayn, 
 That no knyght sold cum him ogayn, 
 Sho hopid thar was no knyght lifand 
 In batail that might with him stand. 
 Al a sevenight dayes bidene 
 Wald noght sir Gawayn be sene ; 
 Bot in ane other toun he lay. 
 For he wald cum at the day, 
 Als aventerous into the place, 
 So that no man sold se his face. 3^00 
 
Metrical Romances 195 
 
 The armes he bar war noght his awyn, 
 
 For he wald noght in court be knawyn. 
 
 Syr Ywayn and his damysell 
 
 In the town toke thaire hostell. 
 
 And thar he held him prevely, 
 
 So that none sold him ascry ; 
 
 Had thai dwelt langer by a day, 
 
 Than had sho lorn hir land for ay. 
 
 Sir Ywain rested thar that nyght, 
 
 And on the mom he gan hym dyght, 3410 
 
 On slepe left thai his lyowne, 
 
 And wan tham wightly out of toun ; 
 
 It was hir wil, and als hys awyn, 
 
 At cum to court als knyght unknawyn. 
 
 Sone obout the prime of day, 
 
 Sir Gawayn, fra thethin thar he lay, 
 
 Hies him fast into the felde, 
 
 Wele armyd with sper and shelde. 
 
 No man knew him, les ne mor, 
 
 Bot sho that he sold fight feore. V 3420 
 
 The elder sister to court come, ^ 
 
 Unto the king at ask hir dome, 
 
 Sho said, I am cumen with my knyght, 
 
 Al redy to defend my right. 
 
 This day was us set sesowne. 
 
 And i am her al redy bowne. 
 
 And sen this es the last day, 
 
 Gifes dome and lates us wend our way. 
 
 My sister has al sydes soght, 
 
 Bot wele i wate her cums sho noght, 343" 
 
 For sertainly sho findes nane. 
 
 That dar the batail undertane. 
 
 This day for hir forto fyght, 
 
 Forto reve fra me my right. 
 
 Now have i wele wonnen my land, 
 
 Withowten dint of knightes hand ; 
 
 What so my sister ever has mynt, 
 
 Al hir part now tel i tynt, 
 
 Al es myne, to sell and gyf, 
 
 Als a wreche ay sal sho lyf : 344° 
 
 Tharfor, sir king, sen it es swa, 
 
 Gifes yowr dome, and lat us ga. 
 
 The king said, Maiden, think noght lang, 
 (Wele he wist sho had the wrang) 
 Uamysel, it es the assyse, 
 Whils sityng es of the justise. 
 The dome nedes you most habide, 
 For per aventur it may bityde. 
 
196 Ancient English 
 
 Thi sister sal cum al bityme, 
 
 For it es litil passed prime. 3450 
 
 When the king had tald this scill, 
 
 Thai saw cum rideand over a hyll, 
 
 The yonger sister and hir knyght, 
 
 The way to town thai toke ful right, 
 
 On Ywains bed his liown lay, 
 
 And thai had stoUen fra him oway. 
 
 The elder maiden made il cher. 
 
 When thai to court cumen wer. 
 
 The king withdrogh his jugement, 
 
 For wele he trowed in his entent 3460 
 
 That the yonger sister had the right. 
 
 And that sho sold cum with sum knyght. 
 
 Himself knew hyr wele inogh. 
 
 When he hir saw ful fast he logh. 
 
 Him liked it wele in his hert. 
 
 That he saw hir so in quert. 
 
 Into the court sho toke the way. 
 
 And to the king thus gan sho say, 
 
 God, that governs alkin thing, 
 
 The save and se, syr Arthur the kyng, 347° 
 
 And al the knyghtes that langes to the. 
 
 And also al thi mery menye ; 
 
 Unto yowre court, sir, have i broght 
 
 An unkouth knyght that ye knaw noght ; 
 
 He sais that, sothly, for my sake, 
 
 This batayl wil he undertake, 
 
 And he haves yit in other land 
 
 Ful felle dedes underhand, 
 
 Bot al he leves, god do him mede ! 
 
 Forto help me in my nede. 34^0 
 
 Hir elder' sister stode hyr by. 
 
 And tyl hyr sayd sho hastily. 
 
 For hys luf that lens us life, 
 
 Gif me my right withouten strife. 
 
 And lat no man tharfor be slayn. 
 
 The elder sister sayd ogajm, 
 
 ' So, doubtless, the MS. originally read ; the word zonger being written by a 
 different, and, apparently, later, hand, upon an erasure. 
 
 Here is, likewise, another mistake, either of the author or of the translator. 
 The younger sister, being in search of sir Ywain, falls sick, and comes to the same 
 castle where he and his lion had been cured of the wounds they got in their 
 engagement with the steward and his two brothers. Here she stays, to be healed 
 of her malady ; and, in the mean time, the lord of the castle dispatches a damsel 
 to proceed in the search. This damsel goes to the chapel, and meets with Lunet, 
 who tells her of the combat, and sir Ywain's wounds ; and brings her to the place 
 where she had parted with him. The damsel rides forward, and comes to the 
 
Metrical Romances. 197 
 
 Thi right es noght for al es myne, 
 
 And i wil have yt mawgre thine ; 
 
 Tharfore if thou preche alday, 
 
 Her sal thou nothing ber oway. 3490 
 
 The yonger mayden to hir says, 
 
 Sister, thou ert ful curtays, 
 
 And gret dole es it forto se 
 
 Slike two knightes al[s] thai be 
 
 For us sal put tham-self to spill, 
 
 Tharfor now, if it be thi will, 
 
 Of thi gude wil to me thou gif 
 
 Sum thing that i may on lif. 
 
 The elder said, So mot i the. 
 
 Who so es ferd i rede thai fle ; 3500 
 
 Thou getes right noght withowten fail, 
 
 Bot if thou win yt thurgh batail. 
 
 The yonger said. Sen thou wil swa. 
 
 To the grace of god her i me ta, 
 
 And, lord, als he es maste of myght, 
 
 He send his socor to that knyght. 
 
 That thus in dede of charite 
 
 This day antres hys lif for me. 
 
 The twa knightes come bifor the king, 
 
 And that was sone ful grete gedering, 35 'O 
 
 For ilka man that walk might, 
 
 Hasted sone to se that syght ; 
 
 Of tham this was a selly case. 
 
 That nowther wist what other wase ; 
 
 Ful grete luf was bitwix tham twa. 
 
 And now er aither other fa ; 
 
 Ne the king kowth tham noght knaw, 
 
 For thai wald noght thair faces shew. 
 
 If owther of tham had other sene, 
 
 Grete luf had bene tham bitwene. 3520 
 
 Now was this a grete selly, 
 
 That trew luf and so grete envy 
 
 Als bitwix tham twa was than 
 
 Might bath at anes be in a man. 
 
 The knightes, for thase maidens love, 
 
 Aither til other kast a glove, 
 
 And wele armed with sper and shelde. 
 
 Thai riden both forth to the felde. 
 
 castk where he had been healed of his wounds : whence, she is informed, he 
 was just departed. This contradiction has, most likely, arisen from the 
 inaccuracy of the translator ; and, by the first castle, we should, no doub , 
 understand that where Ywain fought and slew the giant, before he went to assist 
 Lunet. 
 
 14 
 
'98 Ancient English 
 
 Thai stroke their stedes that war kene, 
 
 Litel luf was tham bitwene ; 3530 
 
 Ful grevosly bigan that gamyn, 
 
 With stalworth speres strake thai samen, 
 
 And thai had anes togeder spoken, 
 
 Had thar bene no speres broken, 
 
 Bot in that time bitid it swa, 
 
 That aither of tham wald other sla. 
 
 Thai drew swerdes, and swang obout, 
 
 To dele dyntes had thai no dout ; 
 
 Thair sheldes war shiferd, and helms rifen, 
 
 Ful stalworth strakes war thar gifen, 3540 
 
 Bath on bak and brestes thar, 
 
 War bath wounded wonder far, 
 
 In many stedes might men ken 
 
 The blode out of thair bodies ren. 
 
 On helmes thai gaf slike strakes kene, 
 
 That the riche stanes albidene, 
 
 And other gex that was ful gude. 
 
 Was over-covered al in blode. 
 
 Thar helmes war evel brusten bath, 
 
 And thai also war wonder wrath ; 3550 
 
 Thair hauberks als war alto torn. 
 
 Both behind and als bjfforn ; 
 
 Thair sheldes lay sheverd on the ground : 
 
 Thai rested than a litel stound, 
 
 Forto tak thair ande tham till, 
 
 And that was with thair bother will. 
 
 Bot ful lang rested thai noght. 
 
 Til aither of tham on other soght, 
 
 A stronge stowr was tham bitwene. 
 
 Harder than men never sene, 3560 
 
 The king and other that thar war, 
 
 Said that thai saw never ar 
 
 So nobil knightes in no place 
 
 So lang fight bot by goddes grace. 
 
 Barons, knightes, squiers, and knaves. 
 
 Said, It es no man that haves 
 
 So mekil tresor ne nobillay 
 
 That might tham quite thair dede this day. 
 
 Thir wordes herd the knyghtes twa, 
 
 It made tham forto be mor thra. 3570 
 
 Knightes went obout gude wane, 
 To mak the two sisters at ane, 
 Bot the elder was so unkinde. 
 In hir thai might no mercy finde, 
 And the right that the yonger base 
 Puttes sho in the kinges grace. 
 
Metrical Romances. 199 
 
 The king himself and als the quene, 
 
 And other knightes albidene, 
 
 And al that saw that dede that day 
 
 Held al with the yonger may, 3580 
 
 And to the king al thai bisoght, 
 
 Whether the elder wald or noght, 
 
 That he sold evin the landes dele, 
 
 And gif the yonger damysele 
 
 The half, or els sum porciowne. 
 
 That sho mai have to warisowne, 
 
 And part the two knightes in twyn ; 
 
 For sertis, thai said, it war grete syn 
 
 That owther of tham sold other sla, 
 
 For in the world is noght swilk twa. 3590 
 
 ^Vhen other knightes said thai sold sese, 
 
 Tham self wald noght assent to pese. 
 
 Al that ever saw that batayl 
 
 Of thair might had grete mervayl. 
 
 Thai saw never under the hevyn 
 
 Twa knightes that war copied so evyn. 
 
 Of al the folk was none so wise 
 
 That wist whether sold have the prise ; 
 
 For thai saw never so stalworth stour ; 
 
 Ful der boght thai that honowr. 3600 
 
 Grete wonder had sir Gawayn 
 
 What he was that faght him ogain. 
 
 And sir Ywain had grete ferly 
 
 Wha stode ogayns him so stifly. 
 
 On this wise lasted that fight 
 
 Fra midmorn unto mirk night. 
 
 And by that time, i trow thai twa 
 
 War ful weri and sare alswa ; 
 
 Thai had bled so mekil blode 
 
 It was grete ferly that thai stode, 3610 
 
 So far thai bet on bak and brest. 
 
 Until the sun was gon to rest, 
 
 For nowther of tham wald other spar, 
 
 For mirk night thai than namar, 
 
 Tharfor to rest thai both tham yelde, 
 
 Bot, or thai past out of the felde, 
 
 Bitwix tham two might men se 
 
 Both mekil joy and grete pet6. 
 
 By speche might no man Gawain knaw, 
 
 So was he base and spak ful law, 3620 
 
 And mekil was he out of maght. 
 
 For the strakes that he had laght. 
 
 And sir Ywain was ful wery, 
 
 Bot thus he spekes, and sais in hy : 
 
200 Ancient English 
 
 He said, Syr, sen us failes light, 
 I hope it be no lifand wight 
 What wil us blame if that we twin, 
 For of al stedes i have bene yn 
 With no man yit never i met 
 
 That so wele kowth his strakes set, 3630 
 
 So nobil strakes has thou gifen 
 That my sheld es alto reven. 
 Sir Gawayn said, Sir, sertanly. 
 Thou ert noght so weri als i, 
 For if we langer fightand wer 
 I trow I might do the no dere, 
 Thou ert nothing in my det, 
 Of strakes that i on the set. 
 Sir Ywain said, in Cristes name, 
 Sai me what thou hat at hame. 364° 
 
 He said, Sen thou my name wil her, 
 And covaites to wit what it wer. 
 My name in this land mani wote, 
 I hat Gawayn the king son Lote. 
 Than was sir Ywayn for agast. 
 His swerde fra him he kast. 
 He ferd right als he wald wede, 
 And sone he stirt down of his stede. 
 He said, her es a fowl mischance. 
 For defaut of conisance ; 3650 
 
 A sir, he said, had i the sene. 
 Than had her no batel bene, 
 I had me yolden to the als tite 
 (Als worthi war)for discumfite. 
 What man ertou ? said sir Gawain. 
 Syr, he sayd, I hat Ywayne, 
 That lufes the more, by se and sand. 
 Than any man that es lifand. 
 For mani dedes that thou me did. 
 And curtaysi ye have me kyd : 3660 
 
 Tharfor, sir, now in this stour, 
 I sal do the this honowr 
 I grant that thou hast me overcumen, 
 And by strenkyth in batayl nomen. 
 Sir Gawa3m answerd, als curtays. 
 Thou sal noght do, sir, als thou sais ; 
 This honowr sal noght be myne, 
 Bot series it aw wele at be thine ; 
 I gif it the her, withowten hone, 
 And grantes that i am undone. 
 Sone thai light, so sais the boke, 
 And aither other in armes toke, 3670 
 
Metrical Romances, 201 
 
 And kissed so, ful fele sithe, 
 Than war thai both glad and blithe ; 
 In armes so thai stode togeder, 
 Unto the king com ridand theder, 
 And fast he covait forto her 
 Of thir knightes what thai wer, 
 And whi thai made so mekil gamyn 
 Sen thai had so foghten samyn. 
 
 Ful hendli then asked the king 
 \Vha had so sone made saghteling 3680 
 
 Betwix tham thai had bene so wrath, 
 And aither haved done other scath ? 
 He said, I wend ye wald ful fain 
 Aither of yow have other slayn, 
 And now ye er so frendes der. 
 Sir king, said Gawain, ye sal her ; 
 For unknawing and hard grace. 
 Thus have we foghten in this place ; 3690 
 
 I am Gawayn, yowr awin nevow, 
 And sir Ywayn faght with me now ; 
 When we war ner weri, i wys, 
 Mi name he frayned and i his. 
 When we were knawin, sone gan we sese ; 
 Bot, sertes, sir, this es no lese. 
 Had we foghten forth a stownde, 
 I wote wele i had gone to grounde. 
 By his prowes and his ma)rne, 
 
 I wate for soth i had bene slayne. 3700 
 
 Thir wordes menged al the mode, 
 Of sir Ywain als he stode : 
 Sir, he said, so mot i go. 
 Ye kn[a]w yowr self it es noght so. 
 Sir king, he said, withowten fail, 
 I am overcumen in this batayl. 
 Nai, sertes, said Gawain, bot am i. 
 Thus nowther wald have the maistri. 
 Bifor the king gan aither grant 
 
 That himself was recreant ; 3710 
 
 Than the king, and hys meny^ 
 Had bath joy and grete pete. 
 He was ful fayn thai frendes wer, 
 And that thai war so funden in fer. 
 The kyng said. Now es wele sene 
 That mekil luf was yow bitwene. 
 He said, sir Ywain, welkum home, 
 For it was lang sen he thar come. 
 He said, I rede ye both assent 
 To do yow in my jujement, 3720 
 
202 Ancient English 
 
 3740 
 
 And i sal mak so gude ane ende, 
 
 That ye sal both be halden hende. 
 
 Thai both assented sone thartill, 
 
 To do tham in the k)mges will, 
 
 If the maydens wald do so. 
 
 Than the king bad knyghtes two 
 
 Wend efter the maydens bath, 
 
 And so thai did ful swith rath, 
 
 Bifor the kyng when thai war broght. 
 
 He tald unto tham als him thoght : 373° 
 
 " Lystens me now, maydens hende, 
 
 Yowr grete debate es broght til ende, 
 
 So fer forth now es it dreven 
 
 That the dome most nedes be gifen. 
 
 And i sal deme yow als i can." 
 
 The elder sister answerd than, 
 
 Sen ye er king that us sold wer, 
 
 I pray yow do to me na der. 
 
 He said, I wil let for na saw. 
 
 For to do the landes law. 
 
 Thi yong sister sal have hir right, 
 
 For i se wele that thi knyght, 
 
 Es overcumen in this wer. 
 
 Thus said he anely hir to fer. 
 
 And for he wist hir wilful wele. 
 
 That sho wald part with never a dele. 
 
 Sir, sho said, sen thus es gan. 
 
 Now most i, whether i wil or nane, 
 
 Al yowr curaandment fulfill, 
 
 And tharfor dose right als ye will. 3750 
 
 The king said, Thus sal it fall, 
 
 Al yowr landes depart i sail : 
 
 Thi wil es wrang, that have i knawin. 
 
 Now sal thou have noght bot thin awin, 
 
 That es the half of al-bydene. 
 
 Than answerd sho, ful tite in tene. 
 
 And said, Me think ful grete outrage 
 
 To gif hir half myne heritage. 
 
 The king said. For yowr bother esse. 
 
 In hir land i sal hir sese 3760 
 
 And sho sal hald hir land of the. 
 
 And to the tharfor mak fewt^, 
 
 Sho sal the luf als hir lady. 
 
 And thou sal kith thi curtaysi, 
 
 Luf hir efter thine avenant. 
 
 And sho sal be to the tenant. 
 
 This land was first, i understand. 
 
 That ever was parted in Ingland. 
 
Metrical Romances. 203 
 
 Than said the king, Withowten fail, 
 
 For the luf of that batayl, 3770 
 
 Al sisters that sold efter bene 
 
 Sold part the landes tham bitwene. 
 
 Than said the king to sir Gawain, 
 And als he prayed sir Ywain, 
 Forto uiilace thair riche wede. 
 And tharto had thai bath grete nede. 
 Als thai thus-gate stod and spak, 
 The lyown out of the chamber brak, 
 Als thai thair armours sold unlace, 
 Come he rinand to that place, 3780 
 
 Bot he had, or he come thar, 
 Soght his mayster whide-war. 
 And fill mekil joy he made, 
 When he his mayster funden hade. 
 On ilka side than might men se 
 The folk fast to toun gan fle, 
 So war thai ferd for the liowne, 
 When thai saw him theder bown. 
 Syr Ywain bad tham cum ogayn, 
 And said, Lordinges, for sertayn, 379° 
 
 Fra this beste i sal yow wer, 
 So that he sal dy yow no der ; 
 And, sirs, ye sal wele trow mi sawes, 
 We er frendes and gude felaws ; 
 He as mine, and i am his, 
 For na tresor i wald him mys. 
 When thai saw this was sertain, 
 Than spak thai al of sir Ywaine : 
 This es the knight with the liown, 
 That es halden of so grete renown ; 3800 
 
 This ilk knight the geant slogh, 
 Of dedis he es doghty inogh. 
 Then said sir Gawayn sone in hi, 
 Me es bitid grete velani ; 
 I cri the mercy, sir Ywayne, 
 That i have trispast the ogayn ; 
 Thou helped mi sister in hir nede, 
 Evil have i quit the now thi mede ; 
 Thou anterd thi life for luf of me, 
 And als mi sister tald of the ; 3810 
 
 Thou said that we, ful fele dawes, 
 Had bene frendes, and gude felawes ; 
 Bot wha it was ne wist i noght, 
 Sethen have i had ful mekil thoght, 
 And yit for al that i do can 
 I cowth never her of na man 
 
2 04 Ancient English 
 
 That me cowth tell, in tour ne toun, 
 Of the knight with the liown. 
 When thai had unlaced thair wede, 
 Al the folk toke ful gode hede 3820 
 
 How that beste, his bales to bete, 
 Likked his maister both hand and fete. 
 Al the men grete mervail hade 
 Of the mirth the lyown made. 
 When the knightes war broght to rest, 
 The king gert cum sone of the best 
 Surgiens that our war sene, 
 For to hele tham both bidene. 
 Sone so thai war hale and sownd, 
 ■ Sir Ywain hies him fast to found. 3830 
 
 Luf was so in his hert fest. 
 Night ne day haved he no rest ; 
 Bot he get grace of his lady. 
 He most go wode, or for luf dy. 
 ^ul preveli forth gan he wende 
 Out of the court fra ilka frende ; 
 
 He rides right unto the well. 
 And thar he thinkes forto dwell ; 
 
 His gode lyon went with him ay, 
 
 He wald noght part fro him oway, 3840 
 
 He kest water opon the stane, 
 
 The storm rase ful sone onane. 
 
 The thoner grisely gan out-brest, 
 
 Him thoght als al the grete forest, 
 
 And al that obout the well. 
 
 Sold have sonken into hell. 
 
 The lady was in mekil dout, 
 
 For al the kastel walles obout 
 
 Quoke so fast that men might think 
 
 That al into the erth sold synk ; 3850 
 
 Thai trembled fast both hour and hall, 
 
 Als thai unto the grund sold fall ; 
 
 Was never, in this mydle-erde,' 
 
 In no kastell folk so ferde. 
 
 Bot wha it was wele wist Lunet, 
 
 Sho said. Now er we hard byset ; 
 
 Madame, i ne wate what us as best. 
 
 For her now may wa have no rest ; 
 
 Ful wele i wate ye have no knight 
 
 That dar wende to your wel, and fight. 3860 
 
 With him that cumes yow to assaile ; 
 
 And if he have her no batayla, 
 
 • The original reads '• mydlerde. " 
 
Metrical Romances. 205 
 
 Ne findes none yow to defend, 
 
 Yowr lose ben lorn withouten end. 
 
 The lady said, sho wald be dede : 
 
 " Der Lunet, what es thi rede ? 
 
 Wirk i wil by thi kounsail, 
 
 For i ne wate noght what mai avail." 
 
 Madame, sho said, i wald ful fayn 
 
 Kownsail yow if it might gayn, 3870 
 
 Bot in this case it war mystere 
 
 To have a wiser kownsayler : 
 
 And by desait than gan sho say, 
 
 Madame, per chance, this ilk day, 
 
 Sum of yowr knightes mai cum hame, 
 
 And yow defend of al this shame. 
 
 A, sho said, Lunet, lat be ! 
 
 Speke na mor of my menye. 
 
 For wele i wate, so god me mend, 
 
 I have na knight me mai defend ; 3880 
 
 Tharfor ray kownsail bus the be. 
 
 And i wil wirk al efter the ; 
 
 And tharfor help at al thi myght. 
 
 Madame, sho said, had we that knyght. 
 
 That es so curtais and avenant, 
 
 And has slane the grete geant. 
 
 And als that the thre knightes slogh. 
 
 Of him ye myght be trist inogh ; 
 
 Bot forthermar, madame, i wate 
 
 He and his lady er at debate, 3890 
 
 And has bene so ful many day, 
 
 And als i herd hym-selvyn say, 
 
 He wald bileve with no lady, 
 
 Bot on this kownand utterly, 
 
 That thai wald mak sertayn ath 
 
 To do thair might and kunyng bath, 
 
 Trewly both by day and naght, 
 
 To make him and hys lady saght, 
 
 The lady answered sone hir tyll, 
 
 That wil i do with ful gode will ; 3900 
 
 Unto the her mi trowth i plight, 
 
 That i sal tharto do mi might. 
 
 Sho said, Madame, be ye noght wrdth, 
 
 I most nedes have of yow an ath, 
 
 So that i mai be sertajm. 
 
 The lady said. That will i fayn. 
 
 Lunet than riche relikes toke. 
 
 The chalis and the mes boke. 
 
 On knese the lady down hir set, 
 
 Wit ye wele than liked Lunet : 3910 
 
 IS 
 
2o6 Ancient English 
 
 Hir hand opon the boke sho laid, 
 And Lunet alkynsi to hir said : 
 Madame, sho said, thou salt swer her. 
 That thou sal do thi power. 
 Both dai and night, opon al wise, 
 Withouten alkyns'' fayntise. 
 To saghtel the knyght with the liown 
 And his lady of grete renowne. 
 So that no faut be funden in the. 
 Sho said, I grant it sal so be. 3920 
 
 Than was Lunet wele paid of this. 
 The boke sho gert hir lady kys : 
 Sone a palfray sho bistrade. 
 And on hir way fast forth sho rade. 
 The next way ful sone sho nome. 
 Until sho to the well come. 
 Sir Ywain sat under the thorn, 
 And his lyown lay him byfom ; 
 Sho knew him wele by his lioun. 
 And hastily sho lighted downe ; 3930 
 
 And als sone als he Lunet sagh' 
 In his hert than list him lagh : 
 Mekil mirth was when thai met, 
 Aither other ful fair has gret. 
 Sho said, I love grete god in trone. 
 That i have yow fun so sone, 
 And tithandes tel i yow biforn. 
 Other sal my lady be manesworn. 
 On relikes, and bi bokes brade, 
 
 Or els ye twa er frendes made. 394° 
 
 Sir Ywain than was wonder glad, 
 Fer the tithandes that he had. 
 He thanked hir ful fele sith, 
 That sho wald him slike gudenes kith ; 
 And sho him thanked mekill mar. 
 For the dedes that war done ar : 
 So ather was in other det. 
 That both thair travail was wele set. 
 He sais, Talde thou hir oght my name ? 
 Sho said, Nay, than war i to blame ; 3950 
 
 Thi name sho sal noght wit for me. 
 Til ye have kyssed, and saghteld he. y 
 Than rade thai forth toward the town, 
 And with tham ran the gude lyoun. 
 When thai come to the castel-yate, 
 Al went thai in thareat ; 
 
 Original reads " a/yKj. " ' Original reads " akyns." 
 
 ^ Original reads " saght." 
 
Metrical Romances. 207 
 
 Thai spak na word to na man born, 
 
 Of al the folk thai fand byforn. 
 
 Als sone so the lady herd sayn, 
 
 Hir damisel was cumen ogayn, 3960 
 
 And als the liown and the knight, 
 
 Than in hert sho was fill lyght ; 
 
 Scho covait ever of al thing 
 
 Of him to have knawageing. 
 
 Sir Ywain sone on knese him set, 
 
 When he with the lady met. 
 
 Lunet said to the lady sone, 
 
 Take up the knight, Madame, have done. 
 
 And, als convenand betwixt us was. 
 
 Makes his pese fast or he pas. 3970 
 
 Than did the ladi him up-rise, 
 
 Sir, sho said, open al wise 
 
 I wil me pain in al thing 
 
 Forto mak thi saghtelyng 
 
 Bitwix the and thi lady bryght. 
 
 Madame, said Lunet, that es right. 
 
 For nane bot ye has that powere, 
 
 Al the soth now sal ye her. 
 
 Madame, sho said, es nought at layn. 
 
 This es my lord, sir Ywaine ; 3980 
 
 Swilk luf god bitwixt yow send, 
 
 Tha^ may last to yowr lives end. 
 
 Than went the lady far obak. 
 
 And lang sho stode or that sho spak ; 
 
 Sho said, How es this, dainysele ; 
 
 I wend thou sold be to me lele. 
 
 That makes me whether i wil or noght 
 
 Luf tham that me wa has wroght ; 
 
 So that me bus be forsworn. 
 
 Or luf tham that wald i was lorn ; 3990 
 
 Bot, whether it torn to wele or ill, 
 
 That i have said i sal fulfill. 
 
 Wit ye wele than, sir Ywaine 
 
 Of tha wordes was ful fayne. 
 
 Madame, he said, i have miswroght ' 
 
 And that i have ful der boght ; 
 
 Crete foly i did, the soth to say, 
 
 When that i past my terme-hay ; V, 
 
 And sertes wha so had so bityd, 
 
 Thai sold have done right als i dyd, 4000 
 
 Bot i sal never, thorgh goddes grace. 
 
 At mi migt do raor trispase ; 
 
 ' Original reads, " misworoght." 
 
Ancient Romances. 
 
 And what man so wil mercy crave, 
 By goddes law he sal it have. 
 Than sho asented saghteling to mak, 
 And sone in arms he gan hir tak, 
 And kissed hir ful oft sith, 
 Was he never ar so blith. 
 
 Now has sir Ywain ending made 
 Of al the sorows that he hade ; 40 1 o 
 
 Ful lely lufed he ever hys whyfe, 
 And sho him als hyr owin life ; 
 That lasted to thair lives ende ; 
 And trew Lunet, the maiden hende, 
 Was honord ever wit aid and ying, 
 And lifed at hir owin likyng. 
 Of alkins thing sho has maystri, 
 Next the lord and the lady ; 
 Al honord hir in tour and toun. 
 Thus the knyght with the liown 4020 
 
 Es turned now to syr Ywayn, 
 And has his lordship al ogayn ; 
 And so sir Ywain and his wive 
 In joy and blis thai led thair live ; 
 So did Lunet, and the liown, 
 Until that ded haves dreven tham down : 
 Of tham "b^ mar have i herd tell, 
 Nowther in rumance, ne in spell. 
 Bot Jhesu Criste, for his grete grace, 
 In hevyn blis grante us a place 4030 
 
 To bide in, if his wills be. 
 Amen, amea, pur charite. 
 
^aunfal. 
 
 AiN ANCIENT METRICAL ROMANCE. 
 
 TErOMAS CHESTRE; 
 
 TO WHICH IS APPENDED THE STILL OLDER ROMANCE OF 
 EDITED BY 
 
 JOSEPH RITSON. 
 
 Edinburgh : 
 
 E. & G. GOLDSMID. 
 
 1891. 
 
This Edition is limited to 400 copies on demy %vo, and 100 copies [Large 
 Paper) on demy e^to paper. 
 
LAUNFAL. 
 
 BT THOMAS CHESTKE. 
 
 The only ancient copy of this excellent romance, known to be 
 
 now extant, is contained in a manuscript of the Cotton-library, 
 
 (Caligula A. II.) written, it would seem, in or about the reign ot 
 
 Henry VI. in which the translator is, by Tanner, who, most 
 
 absurdly, styles him " unus regis Arthuri equitum rotundte tabula" 
 
 supposed to have lived. Two copies are preserved, in our own 
 
 libraries, of the French original, by Marie de France, a Norman 
 
 poetess of the thirteenth century; one in the Harleian MS. Num. 
 
 978, and the other in the Cotton, Vespasian B. XIV. The latter 
 
 begins, 
 
 " Laventure de un lay ; '' 
 
 the former (being a collection of such pieces) 
 
 "Laventure dun autre lai" 
 
 The English poem, which, by the way, is much enlarged, 
 containing a surplus of near three hundred lines, appears to have 
 been printed under the name of "Sir Lambwell;" being licensed, 
 in the register of the Stationers-Company, to John Kynge,* in 1558, 
 and expressly mentioned in Laneham's "Letter, whearin part of 
 the entertainment unto the queenz majesty at Killingworth 
 castl, 1575, iz signified." 
 
 M. Le Grand has given the extract of a Lai de Gruelan, ot 
 which, he observes, the subject is precisely the same with that of 
 Lanval; though the details are altogether different. See Fabliaux, 
 ou contes, A, 92. 
 
 * He dwelt in Creed Lane, and kept a shop at the sign of the Swan in St. Paul's 
 Churchyard. He probably died in 156 1. —Johnson's T-vpocrafhia, vol. I., p. 5J7. 
 
LAUNFAL. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 Be doughty Artours dawes,* 
 
 That held Engelond yn good lawes, 
 
 Ther fell a wondyr cas, 
 Of a ley that was ysette,t 
 That hyght Launval, and hatte yette ;t 
 
 Now herkeneth how hyt was. 
 Doughty Artour som whyle 
 Sojournede yn Kardeuyle,§ 
 
 Wyth joye and greet solas ; 
 
 * Dr Percy, by mistake, gives it (from Ames ?) 
 
 "ie douzty Artours dawes ;" 
 and says that it is in his folio MS. p. 60, beginning thus — 
 " Doughty in King Arthures dayes." 
 
 •f- A lay (supposed to come from the barbarous Latin leudus, which occurs in the 
 epistle of Fortunatus to Gregory of Tours — 
 
 ** Barbaras kudos harpa relidehat") 
 was what is now called a song or ballad, but generally of the elegiac kind, tender and 
 pathetic (in French lai, in German lied, in Saxon leod), which was usually sung to the 
 harp ; and of which many instances may be found in the prose Roman de Tristan, 
 1488, and elsewhere. See more of these ancient British lays in a note to Emare. 
 
 % Thus Mary— 
 
 ** Laventure dun autre lai 
 Cum ele avient irus cunterai, 
 Faitfu dun mut gentil vassal 
 En Bretons lapelent Lanval^ 
 
 § Thus in the MS. and Mr Ellis's edition ; but read, as afterward, Kardevyle. It 
 is Carlisle in Cumberland, where King Arthur is fabled to have had a palace and 
 occasional residence. "On this ryver," says Froisart, mistaking the Tyne for 
 the Esk, " standeth the towne and castell of Carlyel, the whiche some tyme was 
 kyng Arthurs, and helde his courte there often-tymes." (English translation, 
 1525, fo. vii, b.) Thus, also, in an ancient Scottish romance, furtively printed by 
 Pinkerton : — 
 
 " In the tyme of Arthur an aunter bytydde. 
 By the Turne-Wathelan, as the boke telles. 
 When he to Carlele was comen and conquerour kydde," &c. 
 Two old ballads, upon the subject of King Arthur, printed in the " Reliques of ancient 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 And knyghtes that wer profitable, 
 With Artour of the rounde table. 
 
 Never noon better ther nas. 
 Sere Persevall, * and syr Gawayn, 
 Syr Gyheryes, and syr Agrafrayn, t 
 
 And Launcelott Dulake, 
 Syr Kay, and syr Ewayn, 
 That well couthe fyghte yn plain, 
 
 Bateles for to take. 
 
 English Poetry." suppose his residence at CarUiU; and one of them, in particular, 
 says, 
 
 "At Tearne-Wadling, his castle stands." 
 
 "Tearne-Wadling,"' according to the ingenious editor (and which, as he observes, is 
 evidently the Turne-Wathelan of the Scottish poem), " is the name of a small lake 
 near Hesketh, in Cumberland, on the road from Penrith to Carlisle. There is a 
 tradition," he adds, "that an old castle once stood near the lake, the remains of 
 which were not long since visible : " Team, in the dialect of that country, signify- 
 ing a small lake, and being still in use. The tradition is that either the castle or a 
 great city, was swallowed up by the lake, and may be still seen, under favorable 
 circumstances, at its bottom. 
 
 It is Kardocl in the original, and elsewhere Cardmil. The old romance of Merlin 
 calls it "/a inlle de Cardueil en Galles." 
 
 * Sir Perceval le Galois, or Percival de Gales, was one of the knights of the round 
 table. His adventures form the subject of a French metrical romance, composed, in 
 the twelfth century, by Chrestien de Troyes, or, according to others, by a certain 
 Manecier, Mennesier, or Menessier, and of an English one, in the fifteenth, by 
 Robert de Thornton. The former, extant in the national library of France, and in 
 that of Berne, is said to contain no less than 60,000 verses ; a number, however, 
 which has been reduced by others to 20,000, and even to 8,700 and 4,500. It 
 appeared in prose at Paris, 1530, 8vo. The latter is in the library of Lincoln 
 Cathedral. 
 
 •f- Gaheris {Gueherries, or Gueresches), and Agravaine, surnamed le orgueilleux, were 
 brothers to Sir Gawain, and both knights of the round table. 
 
 J This hero was the son of Ban, king of Benock, in the marches of Gaul and 
 Little-Britain, and a knight-companion of the round table. He is equally remark- 
 able for his gallantry and good fortune ; being never overcome, in either joust or 
 tournament, unless by enchantment or treachery; and being in high favour with 
 the queen, whom he loved with singular fidelity to the last ; doing for her many 
 magnanimous deeds of arms, and actually saveing her from the fire through his noble 
 chivalry. This connection involved him in a long and cruel war with King Arthur ; 
 after whose death he became a hermit. His adventures, which take up a considerable 
 portion of Mort d'Anhnr, are the subject of a very old French romance, in three 
 folio volumes, beside a number of MSS. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Kyng Ban-Booght, and kyng Bos,* 
 
 Of ham ther was a greet los, 20 
 
 Men sawe tho no wher her make ; 
 Syr Galafre,t and syr Launfale, 
 Wherof a noble tale 
 
 Among us schall awake. 
 
 With Artour ther was a bacheler. 
 And hadde ybe well many a yer, 
 
 Launfal for soth he hyght, 
 He gaf gyftys largelyche. 
 Gold, and sylver, and clodes ryche. 
 
 To squyer and to knyght. 30 
 
 For hys largesse and hys bounte, 
 The kynges stuward made was he. 
 
 Ten yer, y you plyght ; 
 Of alle the knyghtes of the table rounde 
 So large ther was noon yfounde. 
 
 Be dayes ne be nyght, 
 
 So hyt be fyll, yn the tenthe yer, 
 
 Marlyn was Artours counsalere,! 
 
 He radde hym for to wende 
 
 * Ban was king of Baioic, and Bocrt (not Boozt) king of Games. They were 
 brothers, and both knights of the rounnd table. Ban was the father of sir Lancelot. 
 Bcort in Mort S Arthur is called Bon. There is no king Bos ; nor, in fact, do any 
 of these names occur in the French original. There was, indeed, another Boorty or 
 BorSj afterwards king of Bemlc ; but the translator has evidently missupposed Ban- 
 Boozt to be the name of one king, and Bos that of the other. A " romati des rois 
 Bans and Beors freres germaim." fo. is among the MSS. of the French national 
 library. {Bii. du roi, 7184). 
 
 ■f No such name occurs among the knights of the round table, or is to be met 
 with in any old romance. It is, probably, a corruption of Galehaut, Galahalt, or 
 Galahad^ of whom mention is made in Mort d' Arthur, 
 
 X Merlin, a powerful magician, was begotten by a devil, or incubus, upon a yQung 
 damsel of great beauty, and daughter, as Geoffrey of Monmouth asserts, to the king 
 of Demetia. He removed, by a wonderful machine of his own invention, the 
 giants-dance, now Stone-henge, from Ireland, to Salisbury-plain, where part of it is 
 still standing ; and, in order to enable Uther Pendragon, king of Britain, to enjoy 
 Igerna, the wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, transformed him," by magical 
 art, into the likeness of her husband ; which amorous connection, (Igerna being 
 rendered an honest woman by the murder of her spouse, and timely intermarriage 
 with king Uther,) enlightened the world, like another Alcmena, with a second 
 Hercules, •videlicet, the illustrious Arthur. This famous prophet, being violently 
 enamoured of a fairy damsel, in the march of Little-Britain, named Aivlame, or 
 Vmiane, alias The Lady or Damsel of the lake, taught her so many of his magic secrets, that. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 To king Ryon of Irlond ryght,* 40 
 
 And sette him ther a lady bryght, 
 
 Gwennere hys doughtyr hende. 
 So he dede, and home her brought. 
 But syr Launfal lyked her noght, 
 
 Ne other knyghtes that wer hende ; 
 For the lady bar los of swych word, 
 That sche hadde lemannys unther her lord, 
 
 So fele ther nas noon ende. 
 
 They wer ywedded, as y you say. 
 
 Upon a Wytsonday, 50 
 
 Before princes of moch pryde. 
 No man ne may telle yn tale 
 What tolk ther was at that bredale. 
 
 Of countreys fer and wyde. 
 No nother man was yn halle ysette. 
 But he wer prelat, other baronette, t 
 
 In herte ys naght to hyde, 
 
 once upon a time, she left him asleep in a cave within the perilous forest of 
 Darriantes, on the borders of the sea of Cornwall, and the sea of SoreloySy 
 where, if the credible inhabitants of those countries may be believed, he still 
 remains in that condition ; the place of his repose being effectually sealed by 
 force of grand conjurations, and having himself been never seen by any man, who 
 could give intelligence of it ; even that courteous knight Sir Gawin, who, after his 
 enchantment, had some conversation with him, not being permitted the gratification 
 of a single look. (See Lancelot du lac, fo. 6.) Her enchantments, however, are 
 related with some difference, and more particularity, in the romance of her venerable 
 gallant, or, rather, unfortunate dupe, totne 2, fo. 127, whereby it appears that, after 
 being enchanted by his mistress, as aforesaid he found himself, when he awoke, in the 
 strongest tower in the world, to wit, in the forest of Bnceliande, whence he was never 
 able to depart, although she continued to visit him both by day and night at her 
 pleasure. The divine Ariosto, by poetical licence, has placed the tomb of this 
 magician in some part of France ; and our admirable Spenser, after an old tradition, 
 in Wales, which, in fact, seems to have had the best title to him. His prophecies, 
 which were first published in The British History, have since gone through repeated 
 editions, in Latin, French, and English. 
 
 * This king Ryon, or Ryence, was also king of North Wales, and of many isles. He 
 sent to King Arthur, for his beard, to enable him, with those of eleven other kings, 
 whom he had already discomfited, to purfle his mantle. See Mort d' Arthur, B. I. 
 C. 24. According, however, to Geoffrey of Moumouth, this insulting message 
 proceeded from the giant Ritho, whom Arthur slew upon the mountain Ara-vius. 
 Ryon was afterwards brought prisoner to Arthur (C. 34) ; and is named among the 
 knights of the round-table. The author is singular in making Guenever his daughter. 
 
 f There was no baronet, properly so called, before the reign of James the first. 
 The word, at the same time, is by no means singular in ancient historians ; but 
 whether a diminutive of baron, or a corruption of banneret, is uncertain. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Yf they fatte noght alle ylyche, * 
 Har servyse was good and ryche, 
 
 Certeyn yn ech a syde. 60 
 
 And whan the lordes hadde ete yn the halle. 
 And the clothes wer drawen alle, 
 
 As ye mowe her and lythe, 
 The botelers fentyn wyn, 
 To alle the lords that wer theryn, 
 
 With chere both glad and blythe. 
 The quene yaf gyftes for the nones. 
 Gold and selver, precyous stonys. 
 
 Her curtasye to kythe, 
 Everych knyght sche yaf broche, other ryng, 70 
 But syr Launfal sche yaf no thyng. 
 
 That grevede hym many a sythe. 
 
 And whan the bredale was at ende 
 Launfal tok his leve to wende 
 
 At Artour the kyng, 
 And seyde a lettere was to hym come. 
 That deth hadde hys fadyr ynome, 
 
 He most to his beryynge. 
 Tho seyde king Artour, that was hende, 
 Launfal, if thou wylt fro me wende, 80 
 
 Tak with the greet spendyng, 
 And my suster sones two, 
 Bothe they schuU with the go. 
 
 At hom the for to bryng. 
 
 Launfal tok leve, withoute fable. 
 With knyghtes of the rounde table. 
 
 And wente forth yn his journ^, 
 Tyl he come to Karlyoun,t 
 To the meyrys hous of the toune, 
 
 Hys servaunt that hadde ybe. 90 
 
 * The original reading is *'ylyke." 
 
 •f- Caerleon (the Urbs Legimum of Geoffrey), formerly in Glamorganshire, but 
 now in Monmouthshire, upon the river Usic, near the Severn-sea. The district, in 
 which this city stood, was called Gtventj of which Arthur is said to have been king. 
 See Carte. Caerkghtiy or Caer Lheon (Ci'vitas Legionumjf \sy likewise, the ancient 
 name of Chester upon Dee. There is nothing of this in the original. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 The meyr stod, as ye may here, 
 And saw hym come ride up anblere. 
 
 With two knyghtes and other mayn^, 
 Agayns hym he hath wey ynome, 
 And seyde, Syr, thou art well come, 
 
 How faryth our kyng ? tel me. 
 
 Launfal answerede and seyde than. 
 He faryth as well as any man, 
 
 And elles greet ruthe hyt wore ; 
 But, syr meyr, without lesyng, loo 
 
 I am thepartyth fram the kyng, 
 
 And that rewyth me sore : 
 Ne ther thar noman benethe ne above, 
 For the kyng Artours love, 
 
 Onowre me never more ; 
 But, syr meyr, y pray the pur amour. 
 May y take with the sojour ? 
 
 Som tyme we knewe us yore. 
 
 The meyr stod, and bethogte hym there. 
 
 What myght be hys answere, i lo 
 
 And to hym than gan he sayn, 
 Syr, seven knyghtes han her har in ynome, 
 And ever y wayte whan they wyl come. 
 
 They am of Lytyll-Bretayne.* 
 Launfal turnede hymself and lowgh, 
 Therof he hadde scorn inowgh. 
 
 And seyde to his knyghtes tweyne. 
 Now may ye se swych ys service, 
 Unther a lord of lytyll pryse. 
 
 How he may therof be fayn. 1 20 
 
 * Little-Britain, or Britany, called, by the French, Bmse-Bretagne, and, by the 
 ancients, Armorica, on the coast of France, opposite to Great Britain, where certain 
 refugee Britons are said to have fled, and established a settlement, on the success of 
 the Saxons, in or about the year 513. See Vertot's Critical history, &c. I, 103. Bede, 
 however, by some strange mistake, supposes the Southern Britons to have proceeded 
 from Armorica. There was a succession of British kings in this little territory, who 
 are famous in the old French annals. These British emigrants seem to have been 
 chiefly Cornish, not orJy from their having given the name of Cornwall to a part of 
 their new acquisition, where they, likewise, had, as in their old possessions, a Mount St. 
 Miciae!, but from the affinity of the two dialects, one of which is extant in its literary 
 remains, and the other is still spoken. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Launfal awayward gan to ryde. 
 The meyr bad he schuld abyde, 
 
 And seyde yn thys manere, 
 Syr, yn a chamber by my orchard-syde, 
 Ther may ye dwell with joye and pryde, 
 
 Yf hyt your wyll were. 
 Launfal anoon ryghtes, 
 He and hys two knytes, 
 
 Sojournede ther yn fere. 
 So savagelych hys good he besette, 1 30 
 
 That he ward yn greet dette, 
 
 Ryght yn the ferst yere. 
 
 So hyt befell at Pentecost, 
 Swych tyme as the holy gost 
 
 Among mankend gan lyght, 
 That syr Hugh and syr Jon, 
 Tok her leve for to gon 
 
 At syr Launfal the knyght. 
 They seyd, Syr, our robes beth to-rent 
 And your tresour* ys all yspent, T40 
 
 And we goth ewyll ydyght. 
 Thanne seyde syr Launfal to the knyghtes fre, 
 Tell yd no man of my povertS, 
 
 For the love of god almyght. 
 
 The knyghtes answerede and seyde tho, 
 That they nolde him wreye n€ver mo. 
 
 All thys world to wynne. 
 With that word theyt wente hym fro. 
 To Glastyngbery bothe two, 
 
 Ther kyng Artour was inne. 150 
 
 The kyng sawe the knyghtes hende. 
 And ayens ham he gan wende. 
 
 For they wer of his kenne ; X 
 Noon other robes they ne hadde 
 Than they out with ham ladde, 
 
 And tho wete to-tore and thynne. 
 
 *The original reads : "tofour.'' 
 -}■ The original reads: "the." 
 \ Kin(?) 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 Than seyde quene Gwenore, that was fel 
 How faryth the proud knight Launfal ? 
 
 May he hys armes welde ? 
 Ye, madame, sayde the knytes than, i6o 
 
 He faryth as well as any man. 
 
 And ellys god hyt schelde. 
 Moche worchyp and greet honour. 
 To Gonore the quene and King Artour, 
 
 Of syr Launfal they telde ; 
 And seyde. He lovede us so. 
 That he would us evermo, 
 
 At wyll have yhelde. 
 
 But upon a rayny day hyt befel. 
 
 An huntynge wente syr Launfel, 170 
 
 To chasy yn holtes hore. 
 In our old robes we yede that day, 
 And thus we beth ywent away. 
 
 As we before hym wore. 
 Glad was Artour the kyng. 
 That Launfal was yn good lyking. 
 
 The quene hyt rew well sore ; 
 For sche wold, with all her myght. 
 That he hadde be, bothe day and nyght. 
 
 In paynys mor and more. 180 
 
 Upon a day of the trinitS, 
 A feste of greet solempnit^ 
 
 In Carlyoun was holde, 
 Erles and barones of that country. 
 Ladyes and borjaes * of that citS, 
 
 Thyder come bothe yongh and old. 
 But Launfal for hys poverty 
 Was not bode to that sembl^, 
 
 Lyte men of hym tolde ; 
 The meyr to the feste was of sent, 190 
 
 The merys doughter to Launfal went, 
 
 And axede yf he wolde 
 
 In halle dyne with her that day. 
 Damesele, he sayde, nay. 
 To dyne have i no herte ; 
 
 * Fr. Bourgeois. 
 
10 Ancient English 
 
 TJire dayes thgr ben agon 
 Mete ne drynke set y noon, 
 
 And all was for povert. 
 To-day to cherche y wold have gon, 
 But me fawtede * hosyn snd schon, 200 
 
 Clenly brech and gcherte ; 
 And for defawte of clodynge, 
 Ne myghte y yn with the peple thrynge. 
 
 No wonther dough me smerte 
 
 But othyng, damesele, y pray the, 
 Sadel and brydel lene thou me, 
 
 A whyle for to ryde. 
 That y myghte comfortede be. 
 By a launde unther thys cyte, 
 
 Al yn thys undern-tyde. 210 
 
 Launfal dyghte hys courser, 
 Without knave other squyer, 
 
 He rood with lytyll pryde ; 
 Hys hors slod, and fel yn the fen, 
 Wherfore hym scornede many men, 
 
 Abowte hym fer and wyde. 
 
 Poverly the knyght to hors gan sprynge, 
 For to dryve away lokynge, 
 
 He rood toward the west ; 
 The wether was hot the undern-tyde, 
 He lyghte adoun, and gan abyde, 220 
 
 Under a fayr forest : 
 And for hete to the wedere, 
 Hys mantell he feld togydere. 
 
 And sette hym doun to rcate % 
 Thus sat the knyght yn symplyte, 
 In the schadowe unther a tre, 
 
 Ther that hym lykede best. 
 
 As he sat yn sorrow and sore, 
 
 He sawe come out of holtqs hore 230 
 
 Gentyll maydenes two, 
 Har kertoles wer of Inde sandel, 
 Ilased smalle, jolyf and well, 
 
 Ther myght noon gayer go. 
 
 * Failed. 
 
Metrical Romanies. 1 1 
 
 Har manteles wer of grene felwet, 
 Ybdrdured with gold, tight Well ysefte 
 
 Ipelvred with gfys Snd gro j 
 Har heddys wer dyght well withalle, 
 Everych hadde oon a jolyf coronall, 
 
 Wyth syxty gemmys and mo. 240 
 
 Har faces wer whyt 4s snow on downe, 
 Har rode was red, her eyn wor browfie, 
 
 I sawe never non swyche ; 
 That oOn bar of gold a basyn, 
 That other a towayle whyt and fyn, 
 
 Of selk that was good and ryche. 
 Her kercheves wer well schyre, 
 Arayd wyth ryche gold wyre, 
 
 Launfal began to syche ; 
 They com to hym over the hoth, 250 
 
 He was curteys, aud ayens hem goth. 
 
 And greette hem myldelyche. 
 
 Damesels, he seyde, god yow se ! 
 Syr knyght, they seyde, well the be ! 
 
 Our lady, dame Tryamour, 
 Bad thou schuldest com speke with here, 
 Gyf hyt wer thy wylle, sere, 
 
 Wythoute more sojour. 
 Launfal hem grauntede curteyslyche, 
 And wente wyth hem myldelyche, 260 
 
 They wheryn whyt as flour ; 
 And when they come in the forest an hygh, 
 A pavyloun yteld he sygh, 
 
 With merthe and mochell honour. 
 
 The pavyloun was wrouth for sothe, y wys, 
 All of werk of Sarsynys, 
 
 The pomelles of crystall ; 
 Upon the toppe an em ther stod 
 Of bournede gold ryche and good, , 
 
 Iflorysched with ryche amall. zyo 
 
 Hys eyn wer carbonkeles bryght. 
 As the mone they schon* a-nyght, 
 
 That spreteth out ovyr all ; 
 
 * The original reatls : "theschon." 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Alysaundre the conquerour, 
 Ne kyng Artour, yn hys most honour, 
 Ne hadde noon scwych juell. 
 
 He fond yn the pavyloun 
 
 The kynges doughter of Olyroun,* 
 
 Dame Tryamour,t that hyghte, 
 Her fadyr was kyng of fayrye, X *8o 
 
 Of occient fer and nyghe, 
 
 A man of mochell myghte. 
 In the pavyloun he fond a bed of prys, 
 Iheled with purpur bys, 
 
 That semyle was of syghte, 
 Therinne lay that lady gent. 
 That after syr Launfal hedde ysent. 
 
 That lefsome lemede bryght. 
 
 For hete her clothes down she dede, 
 
 Almest to her gerdyl stede, 29° 
 
 Than lay sche uncovert ; 
 Sche was as whyt as lylye yn May, 
 Or snow that sneweth yn wynterys day, 
 
 He seygh never non so pert . 
 The rede rose, whan she ys newe, 
 Ayens her rode nes naught of hewe, 
 
 I dar well say yn sert!; 
 Her here schon as gold wyre. 
 May no man rede here atyre, 
 
 Ne naught well thenke yn hert. 300 
 
 * Oleron is an isle of France, on the coast of Aunis, and of Saintonge. It was 
 known to the ancients under the name of Utiarus, as appears from Pliny. Sidonius 
 Appollinaris calls it Olario. The maratime laws of France and England hence received 
 the appellation they still retain of La ley Olyron ; and here it was that King Richard 
 the first stopped, in his return from the Holy Land, to correct them. In 1047 it 
 belonged to Geoffrey de Martel, earl of Anjou, and Agnes his wife. See Martiniere, 
 and Cokes, 4M institute, 144. 
 
 -I" This lady's name is not mentioned in the original. TryarmwTy at the same time, 
 is, elsewhere, that of a knight, and the subject of a metrical romance, certainly from 
 the French. 
 
 J The following description of a female fay, or fairy, is given in the romance of 
 Lancelot du lac, Paris, 1533, fo. C. 8. 
 
 *' La damoUelle qui Lancelot porta au lac estoit une fee, et en celluy temps estoient appellees 
 faces toutes celles qui sentremettoient d^enchantements et de charmes, . . et sca-voient la force et 
 la ■vertu des parolles, des pierres, et desi herbes, parquoy elks estoient tenue en jeunesse et en 
 
Metrical Romances. 1 3 
 
 Sche seyde, Launfal my lemman swete, 
 Al my joye for the y lete, 
 
 Swetyng paramour, 
 Ther nys no man yn Cristent^, 
 That y love so moche as the, 
 
 Kyng, neyther emperour. 
 Launfal beheld that swete wyghth, 
 All hys love yn her was lyghth, 
 And keste that swete flour ; 
 
 And sat adoun her besyde. 
 And seyde, Swetyng, what so betyde, 
 
 I am to thyn honour. 
 
 She seyde, Syr knyght, gentyl and hende, 
 I wot thy Stat, ord, and ende. 
 
 Be naught aschamed of me ; 
 Yf thou wylt truly to me take. 
 And alle wemen for me forsake, 
 
 Rye he i wry 11 make the. 
 I wyll the yeve an alner, 
 Imad of sylk and of gold cler, 320 
 
 Wyth fayre ymages thre ; 
 As oft thou puttest the hond therinne, 
 A mark of gold thou schalt wynne, 
 
 In wat place that thou be. 
 
 Also, sche seyde, syr Launfal, 
 I yeve the Blaunchard my ste< 
 
 my stede lei, 
 
 Beauhe, et en grandes rtchesses comment elles deiAsoient" These fairies, not unfrequent in 
 the old romances, united the ideas of power and beauty j and it is to such a character 
 that Shakspeare alludes, where he makes Anthony to say of Cleopatra, 
 
 " To this GREAT TAiRY I'll commend thy acts.'' 
 Milton, too, appears to have had an accurate notion upon this subject : 
 " Nymphs of Diana's train, and Naiades, 
 
 And ladies of th' Hesperides, that seem'd, 
 
 Fairer than feign'd of old, or fabl'd since 
 
 Of fairy damsels met in forest wide 
 
 By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, 
 
 Lancelot, or PeUeas, or Pellenore." 
 It is perfect ignorance to confound the fairies of romance either with the pigmy 
 race of that denomination, of whom the same great poet has given a beautiful and 
 correct description, or with the fanciful creation of Spencer. 
 
• 4 Ancient English 
 
 And Gyfre My owen knave ; ' 
 And of my armes oo pensel, 
 Wyth thre ermyns ypented well, 330 
 
 Also thou schalt have. 
 In werre, ne yn turnement, 
 Ne schall the greve no knyghtes dent, 
 
 So well y schall the save. 
 Than answerede the gentyl knyghf. 
 And seyde, Gramarcy, my swete wyght. 
 
 No bettere kepte y have. 
 
 The damesell gan her up sette, 
 And bad her maydenes her fette. 
 
 To hyr hondys watyr clere ; 340 
 
 Hyt was ydo without lette, 
 The cloth was spred, the bord was sette, 
 
 They wente to have sopere. 
 Mete and drynk they hadde afyn, 
 Pyement, clare and Reynysch wyn, 
 
 And elles greet wondyr hyt wer ; 
 Whan they had sowpeth, and the day was gon. 
 They wente to bedde, and that anoon, 
 
 Launfal and sehe yn fere. 
 
 For play lytyll they sclepte that nyght, 350 
 
 Tyll on morn hyt was day-lyght, 
 
 She badd hym aryse anoon ; 
 Hy seyde to hym, Syr gentyl knyght. 
 And thou wilt speke with me any wyght. 
 
 To a derne stede thou gon. 
 Well privyly i woll come to the. 
 No man alyve ne schall me se. 
 
 As stylle as any ston. 
 Tho was Launfal glad and biythe. 
 He cowde no man hys joye kythe, 360 
 
 And keste her well good won. 
 
 * No such names occur in the original. Giflet (or Girflet) /e_^fe Mu (a/wi Do) w 
 a character in the o'd French romance of Lancelot du lac. 
 
Metrical Romances. I 5 
 
 But of othyn?, syr knyght, i warne the, 
 That thou make no bost of me. 
 
 For no kennes mede ; 
 And yf thou doost, y warny the before, 
 All my love thou hast forlore : 
 
 And thus to hym sche seyde. 
 Launfal tok hys leve to wende, 
 Gyfre kedde that he was hende, 
 
 And brought Launfal hys stede ; 370 
 
 Launfal lepte ynto the arsoun. 
 And rood horn to Karlyoun, 
 
 In hys pover wede. 
 
 Tho was the knyght yn herte at wylle. 
 In his chaunber he hyld him stylle, 
 
 All that undern-tyde ; 
 Than come ther thorwgh the cyte ten 
 Well yharneysyth men 
 
 Upon ten somers ryde. 
 Some wyth sylver, some wyth gold, 380 
 
 All to syr Launfal hyt schold. 
 
 To presente hym wyth pryde ; 
 Wyth ryche clothes and armure bryght, 
 They axede aftyr Launfal the knyght, 
 
 Whar he gan abyde. 
 
 The yong men wer clodeth yp Ynde, 
 Gyfre he rood all behynde. 
 
 Up Blaunchard whyt as flour ; 
 Tho seyde a boy, that yn the market stod. 
 How fer schall all thys good? 390 
 
 Tell us pur amour. 
 Tho seyde Gyfre, Hyt ys ysent 
 To syr Launfal yn present. 
 
 That hath leved yn greet dolour. 
 Than seyde the boy, Nys he but a wrecche ? 
 What thar any man of hym recche ?* 
 
 At the meyrys hous he taketh sojour. 
 
 * Mr. Ellis, who published this romance, for the first time at the end of the 
 second volume of « the fabliaux or tales" of his deceased friend, G. L. Way, 
 Esq., has strangely misconceived this simple passage ; supposing awreche, as it is 
 
i6 Ancient English 
 
 At the merys hous they gon alyghte, 
 And presented the noble knyghte 
 
 Wyth swych good as hym was sent ; 
 And whan the meyr seygh that rychesse, 
 And syr Launfales noblenesse, 
 
 He held hym self foule yschent. 
 Tho seyde the meyr, Syr, pur charyte, 
 In halle to day that thou wylt ete with me, 
 
 Yesterday y hadde yment 
 At the feste we wolde han be yn same. 
 And y hadde solas and game. 
 
 And erst thou were ywent. 
 
 " Syr meyr, god foryelde the, 4.10 
 
 Whyles y was yn my poverty, 
 
 Thou bede me never dyne : 
 Now y have more gold and fe, 
 That myne frendes han sent me, 
 
 Than thou and alle dyne." 
 The meyr for schame away yede, 
 Launfal yn purpure gan hym schrede, 
 
 Ipelvred with whyt ermyne ; 
 All that Launfal had borwyth before 
 Gyfre, be tayle and be score, 420 
 
 Yald hyt well and fyne. 
 
 Launfal helde ryche festes, 
 Fyfty fedde povere gestes. 
 
 That in myscaef wer ; 
 Fyfty boughte stronge stedes, 
 
 Fyfty yaf ryche wedes, 
 
 To knyghtes and squyere, 
 Fyfty rewardede relygyons. 
 Fyfty delyverede povere prysouns, 
 
 And made ham quyt and schere : 430 
 
 Fyfty clodede gestours. 
 To many men he dede honours, 
 
 In countreys fer and nere. 
 
 there printed to be one word, and the meaning, " He is not without his revenge (/.c, 
 compensation) whatever any man may think of him." The boy, however, mani- 
 festly intends our seedy knight no compliment in the question he asks — " Is he 
 aught," says he, " but a wretch (or beggarly rascal ?) What does anyone care for 
 him?" 
 
Metrical R omances . 1 7 
 
 Alle the lordes of Karlyoun 
 
 Lette crye a turnement yn the toun, 
 
 For love of syr Launfel, 
 And for Blaunchard, hys good stede, 
 To wyte how hym wold spede, 
 
 That was ymade so well. 
 And whan the day was ycome, 440 
 
 That the justes were yn ynome, 
 
 They ryde out al so snell, 
 Trompours gon har hemes blowe, 
 The lordes ryden out a-rowe. 
 
 That were yn castell. 
 
 Ther began the turnement. 
 
 And ech knyght leyd on other good dent, 
 
 Wyth msses and wyth swerdes bothe ; 
 Me myghte yse some, therfore 
 Stedes ywonne, and some ylore, 450 
 
 And knyghtes* wonther wroghth. 
 Syth the rounde table was 
 A bettere turnement ther nas, 
 
 I dar well say for sothe. 
 Many a lorde of Karlyoun 
 That day were ybore adoun, 
 
 Certayn withouten othe. 
 
 Of Karlyoun the ryche constable 
 Rod to Launfall, without fable, 
 
 He nolde no lengere abyde ; 460 
 
 He smot to Launfal, and he to hym. 
 Well Sterne strokes, and well grym, 
 
 Ther wer in eche a syde. 
 Launfal was of hym yware. 
 Out of his sadell he hym bar. 
 
 To grounde that ylke tyde. 
 And whan the constable was bore adoun, 
 Gyfre lepte ynto the arsoun, 
 
 And awey he gan to ryde. 
 
 * The original reading is "kyztes." 
 
Ancient English Romances. 
 
 The erl of Chestere thereof segh, 47° 
 
 For wrethe yn herte he was wod negh, 
 
 And rood to syr Launfale, 
 And smot hym yn the helm on hegh. 
 That the crest adoun flegh, 
 
 Thus seyd the Frenssch tale. 
 Launfal was mochel of myght. 
 Of hys stede he did hym lyght, 
 
 And bar hym doun yn the dale ; 
 Than come ther syr Launfal abowte 
 Of Walssche knyghtes a greet rowte, 480 
 
 The numbre y not how fale. 
 
 Than myghte me se scheldes ryve, 
 Speres to-breste and to-dryve, 
 
 Behynde and ek. before, 
 Thorugh Launfal and hys stedes dent, 
 Many a knyght, verement, 
 
 To ground was ibore. 
 So the prys of that turnay 
 Was delyvered to Launfal that day. 
 
 Without oth yswore ; 490 
 
 Launfal rod to Karlyoun. 
 To the meyrys hous yn the toun, 
 
 And many a lord hym before. 
 
 And than the noble knyght Launfal 
 Helde a feste ryche and ryall. 
 
 That leste fourtenyght, 
 Erles and barouns fale 
 Semely wer sette yn sale. 
 
 And ryaly were adyght. 
 And every day dame Triamour, 500 
 
 Sche com to syr Launfal bour, 
 
 A day when hyt was nyght, 
 Of all that ever wer ther tho, 
 Segh he non bot they two, 
 
 Gyfre and Launfal the knyght. 
 
LAUNFAL. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 A knyght ther was yn Lumbardye,* 
 To syr Laimfal hadde he greet envye, 
 
 Syr Valentyne he hyghte ; 
 He herde speke of syr Launfal, 
 That he couth justy well, 
 
 And was a man of mochel myghte. 
 Syr Valentyne was wonther strong, 
 Fyftene feet he was longe, 
 
 Hym thoghte he brente bryghte 
 Bnt he myghte with Launfal pleye, 
 In the feld betwene ham tweye, 
 To justy, other to fyghte. 
 
 ;io 
 
 Syr Valentyne sat yn hys halle, 
 Hys massengere he let ycalle. 
 
 And seyde he moste wende 
 To syr Launtal the noble knyght. 
 That was yholde so mychel of myght, 
 
 To Bretayne he wolde hym sende ; 
 And sey hym, for love of hys lemman, 
 Yf sche be any gentyle woman, 
 
 Courteys, fre, other hende. 
 That he come with me to juste. 
 To kepe hys harneys from the ruste. 
 
 And elles hys manhood schende. 
 
 520 
 
 * This episode, the introduction of the mayor of Carleon, and his daughter, even 
 the name of that place, and several other incidents, are entirely owing to the English 
 poet, there being nothing of this sort in the original. 
 
Jncient English 
 
 The messengere ys forth ywent, 53° 
 
 To tho hys lordys commaundement, 
 
 He hadde wynde at wylle 
 Whan he was over the water ycome, 
 The way to Launfal he hath ynome, 
 
 And grette hym with wordes stylle : 
 And seyd, Syr, my lord, syr Valentyne, 
 A noble werrour, and queynte of gynne. 
 
 Hath me sent the tylle ; 
 And prayeth the, for thy lemmanes sake, 
 Thou schuldest with hym justes take. 540 
 
 Tho lough Launfal full stylle. 
 
 And seyde, as he was gentyl knyght, 
 Thylke day a fourtenyght. 
 
 He wold wyth hym play. 
 He yaf the messenger, for that tydyng, 1 
 A noble courser and a ryng, 
 
 and a robe of ray, 
 Launfal tok leve at Tryamour, 
 That was the bryght berde yn bour, 
 
 And keste that swete may ; 550 
 
 Thanne seyde that swete wyght. 
 Dreed the nothyng, syr gentyl knyght. 
 
 Thou schalt hym sle that day. 
 
 Launfal nolde nothyng wyth hym have, 
 
 But Blaunchard hys stede, and Gyfre hys knave, 
 
 Of all hys tayr maynS ; 
 He schyppede and hadde wynd well good. 
 And wente over the solte flod. 
 
 Into Lumbardye. 
 Whan he was over the water ycome, 560 
 
 Ther the justes schulde be nome. 
 
 In the cyte of Atalye, 
 Syr Valentyn hadde a greet ost, 
 And syr Launfal abatede her bost, 
 
 Wyth lytyll cumpanye. 
 
 And whan syr Launfal was ydyght. 
 Upon Blaunchard hys stede lyght, 
 With helm, and spere, and schelde. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 All that sawe hym yn armes bryght. 
 
 And seyde they sawe never swych a knyght, 570 
 
 That hym with eyen beheld. 
 Tho ryde togydere thes knyghtes two, 
 That har schaftes to-broste bo, 
 
 And to-scyverede yn the felde ; 
 Another cours togedere they rod, 
 That syr Launfal helm of glod, 
 
 In tale as hyt ys telde. 
 
 Syr Valentyn logh, and hadde good game, 
 Hadde Launfal never so moche schame, 
 
 Beforhond yn no fyght ; 580 
 
 Gyfre kedde he was good at nede, 
 And lepte upon hys maystrys stede, 
 
 No man ne segh with syght. 
 And er than thay togedere mette, 
 Hys lordes helm he on sette, 
 
 Fayre and well adyght ; 
 Tho was Launfal glad and blythe. 
 And donkede Gyfre many syde, 
 
 For hys dede so mochel of myght. 
 
 Syr Valentyne smot Launfal soo, 590 
 
 That hys scheld fel hym fro, 
 
 Anoon ryght yn that stounde ; 
 And Gyfre the scheld up hente. 
 And broghte hyt hys lord to presente, 
 
 Er hyt cam thoune to ground e. 
 Tho was Launfal glad and blythe. 
 And rode ayen the thrydde syde, 
 
 Asa knyght of mochel mounde ; 
 Syr Valentyne he smot so there, 
 That hors and mon bothe deed were, 600 
 
 Gronyng wyth grysly wounde. 
 
 Alle the lordes of Atalye 
 To syr Launfal hadde greet envye. 
 That Valentyne was yslawe. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 And swore that he schold dye, 
 Er he wente out of Lumbardye, 
 
 And be hongede, and to-drawe. 
 Syr Launfal brayde out hys fachon, 
 And as lyght as dew he leyde hem doune, 
 
 In a lytyll drawe, 6io 
 
 And whan he hadde the lordes selayn, 
 He went ayen ynto Bretayn, 
 
 Wyth solas and wyth plawe. 
 
 The tydyng com to Artour the kyng, 
 Anoon wythout lesyng, 
 
 Of syr Launfales noblesse, 
 Anoon a letter to hym sende. 
 That Launfal schuld to hym wende, 
 
 At seynt Jonnys masse. 
 For kyng Artour would a feste holde, 620 
 
 Of erlei and of barouns bolde. 
 
 Of lordynges more and lesse ; 
 Syr Launfal schud be stward of halle, 
 For to agye hys gestes alle. 
 
 For cowthe of largesse. 
 
 Launfal toke leve at Tryamour, 
 For to wende to kyng Artour, 
 
 Hys feste for to agye, 
 Ther he fond merthe and moch honour, 
 Ladyes that wer well bryght yn bour, 630 
 
 Of knyghtes greet cumpanye. 
 Fourty dayes leste the feste, 
 Ryche, ryall, and honeste. 
 
 What help hyt for to lye ? 
 And at the fourty dayes ende, 
 ^he lordes toke har leve to wende, 
 
 Everych yn hys partye. 
 
 And aftyr mete syr Gaweyn, 
 Syr Gyeryes, and Agrafayn, 
 
 And syr Launfal also, 640 
 
Metrical Romances. 23 
 
 Wente to daunce upon the grene, 
 Unther the tour ther lay the quene, 
 
 Wyth syxty ladyes and mo. 
 To lede the daunce Launfale was set, 
 For hys largesse he was lovede the bet, 
 
 Sertayn of alle tho ; 
 The quene lay out and beheld hem alle, 
 I se, sche seyde, daunce large Launfalle, 
 
 To hym than wyll y go. 
 
 Of alle the knyghtes that ye se there, 650 
 
 He ys the fayreste bachelere. 
 
 He ne hadde never no wyf ; 
 Tyde me good, other ylle, 
 I wyll go and wyte hys wylle, 
 
 Y love hym as my lyf. 
 Sche tok with her a companye, 
 The fayrest that sche myghte aspye, 
 
 Syxty ladyes and fyf. 
 And went hem doun anoon ryghtes, 
 Ham to pley among the knyghtes, 660 
 
 Well stylle wythouten stryf. 
 
 The quene yede to the formeste ende, 
 Betwene Launfal and Gauweyn the hende. 
 
 And after her ladyes bryght. 
 To daunce they wente alle yn same. 
 To se hem play hyt was fayr game, 
 
 A lady and a knyght. 
 They hadde menstrales of moch honours, 
 Fydelers, sytolyrs, and trompours, 
 
 And elles hyt were unryght ; 670 
 
 Ther they playde, for sothe to say, 
 After mete the somerys day. 
 
 All what hyt was neygh nyght. 
 
 And whanne the daunce began to slake. 
 The quene gan Launfal to counsell take, 
 
 And seyde yn thys manere : 
 Sertaynlyche, syr knyght, 
 I have the lovyd wyth all my myght, 
 
 More than thys seven yere. 
 
2 4 Ancient English 
 
 But that thou lovye me, 680 
 
 Sertes y dye for love of the, 
 
 Launfal, my lemman dere. 
 Than answerede the gentyll knyght, 
 I nell be traytour thay ne nyght, 
 
 Be god, that all may stere. 
 
 Sche seyde, Fy on the, thou coward. 
 An hongeth worth thou hye and hard, 
 
 That thou ever were ybore, 
 That thou lyvest hyt ys pyt^, 
 Thou lovyst no woman, ne no woman the, 690 
 
 Thow wer worthy forlore. 
 The knyght was sore aschamed tho, 
 To speke ne myghte he forgo. 
 
 And seyde the queue before : 
 I have loved a fayryr woman. 
 Than thou ever leydest thy ney upon, 
 
 Thys seven yer and more. 
 
 Hyr lothlokste mayde, wythoute wene, 
 Myghte bet be a queue 
 
 Than thou in all thy lyve. 700 
 
 Therfore the quene was swythe wroght, 
 Sche taketh hyr maydenes, and forth hy goth, 
 
 Into her tour al^o blyve. 
 And anon sche ley doun yn hyr bedde. 
 For wrethe syk sche hyr bredde, 
 
 And swore, so moste sche thryve, 
 Sche wold of Launfal be so awreke. 
 That all the lond schuld of hym speke, 
 
 Wythinne the dayes fyfe. 
 
 King Artour com fro huntynge, 710 
 
 Blythe and glad yn all thyng. 
 
 To hys chamber than wente he, 
 Anoone the quene on hym gan crye. 
 But y be awreke, y schall dye, 
 
 Myn herte wyll breke athre, 
 
Metrical Romances. 2 5 
 
 I spak to Launfal yn my game, 
 And he besofte me of schame. 
 
 My lemman for to be ; 
 And of a lemman hys yelp he made, 
 That the lodlokest mayde that sche hadde 720 
 
 Myght be a quene above me. 
 
 Kyng Artour was well worth. 
 And be god he swor hys oth. 
 
 That Launfal schuld be slawe ; 
 He wente aftyr doghty knyghtes. 
 To brynge Launfal anoon ryghtes. 
 
 To be hongeth and to-drawe. 
 The knyghtes softe hym anoon, 
 But Launfal was to hys chamber gon, 
 
 To han hadde solas and plawe ; 730 
 
 He softe hys leef, but sche was lore. 
 As sche hadde warnede hym before, 
 
 Tho was Launfal unfawe. 
 
 He lokede yn hys alner. 
 
 That fond hym spendyng all plener. 
 
 Whan that he hadde nede. 
 And ther nas noon, for soth to say. 
 And Gyfre was yryde away, 
 
 Up[on] Blaunchard hys stede. 
 All that he hadde before ywonne, 740 
 
 Hyt malt as snow ayens the sunne. 
 
 In romaunce as we rede ; 
 Hys armur, that was whyt as flour, 
 Hyt becom of blak colour. 
 
 And thus than Launfal seyde : 
 
 Alas, he seyde, my creature. 
 How schall i from the endure, 
 
 Swetyng Tryamour ? 
 All my joye i have forlore. 
 And the that me ys worst sore, 750 
 
 Thou blysful berde yn bour.* 
 
 * "These two lines," at least in Mr. Ellis's edition, he says, "are rather obscure ;" 
 but that obscurity was merely occasioned by his printing Than for Thou. The 
 perspicacious editor, nevertheless, saw how the original must have been. Another 
 typographical error, in that edition, has been the cause of his explaining soth (mis- 
 printed/or) by sure. 
 
26 Ancient English 
 
 He bet hys body and hys hedde ek, 
 
 And cursede the mouth that he wyth spek, 
 
 Wyth care and greet dolour ; 
 And, for sorow, yn that stounde, 
 Anoon he fell aswowe to grounde ; 
 
 Wyth that come knyghtes four. 
 
 And bond hym, and ladde hym tho, 
 Tho was the knyghte yn doble wo. 
 
 Before Artour the kyng. 760 
 
 Than seyde kyng Artour, 
 Fyle ataynte traytour ! 
 
 Why madest thou swyche yelpyng ? 
 That thy lemmannes lodlokest mayde 
 Was fayrer than my wyf, thou seyde. 
 
 That was a fowl lesynge ; 
 And thou besoftest her before than. 
 That sche schold be thy lemman. 
 
 That was mysprowd lykynge. 
 
 The knyght answerede, with egre mode, 770 
 
 Before the kyng ther he stode. 
 
 The quene on hym gan lye : 
 " Sethe that y ever was yborn. 
 I besofte her here beforn 
 
 Never of no folye. 
 But sche seyde y nas no man, 
 Ne that me lovede no woman, 
 
 Ne no womannes companye ; 
 And i answerede her and sayde. 
 That my lemmannes lodlekest mayde 780 
 
 To be a quene was better wordye. 
 
 Sertes, lordynges, hyt ys so, 
 I am a redy for to tho 
 
 All that the court wyll loke. 
 To say the soth, wythout les, 
 All togedere how hyt was, 
 
 Twelve knyghtes wer dryve to boke. 
 All they seyde ham betwene. 
 That knewe the maners of the quene, 
 
 And the queste toke ; 790 
 
Metrical Romances. 27 
 
 The quene bar los of swych a word, 
 That sche lovede lemmannes wythout her lord, 
 Har never on hyt forsoke. 
 
 Therfor they seyden alle, 
 
 Hyt was long on the quene, and not on Launfal, 
 
 Therof they gonne hym skere ; 
 And yf he myghte hys lemman brynge, 
 That he made of swych yelpynge, 
 
 Other the maydenes were 
 Bryghtere than the quene of hewe, 800 
 
 Launfal schuld be holde trewe, 
 
 Of that yn all manere ; 
 And yf he myghte not brynge hys lef. 
 He schud be hongede as a thef, 
 
 They seyden all yn fere. 
 
 Alle yn fere they made proferynge, 
 That Launfal schuld hys lemman brynge : 
 
 Hys heed he gan to laye. 
 Than seyde the quene, wythout lesyngc, 
 Yyf he bryngeth a fayrer thynge, 810 
 
 Put out my eeyn gray. 
 Whan that wajowr was take on honde, 
 Launfal therto two borwes fonde, 
 
 Noble knyghtes twayn, 
 Syr Percevall, and syr Gawayn, 
 They wer hys borwes, soth to sayn, 
 
 Tyll a certayn day. 
 
 The certayn day, i yow plyght. 
 Was twelve moneth and fourtenyght. 
 
 That he schuld hys lemman brynge ; 8zo 
 
 Syr Launfal, that noble knyght. 
 Greet sorow and care yn hym was lyght, 
 
 Hys hondys he gan wrynge. 
 So greet sorowe hym was upan, 
 Gladlyche hys lyf he wold a forgon, 
 
 In care and in marnynge ; 
 Gladlyche he wold hys hed forgo, 
 Everych man therfore was wo. 
 
 That wystc of that tydynge. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 The certayn day was nyghyng, ^3° 
 
 Hys borowes hym broght befor the kyng. 
 
 The kyng recordede tho, 
 And bad hym bryng hys lef yn syght, 
 Syr Launfal seyde that he ne myght, 
 
 Therfore hym was well wo. 
 The kyng commaundede the barouns alle, 
 To yeve jugement on Launfal, 
 
 And dampny hym to sclo. 
 Than sayde the erl of Cornewayle, 
 That was wyth ham at that counceyle, 840 
 
 We wyllyd naght do so : 
 
 Greet schame hyt wor us alle upon 
 For to dampny that gentylman, 
 
 That hath be hende and fre ; 
 Therfor, lordynges, doth be my reed. 
 Our kyng, we wyllyth another wey lede, 
 
 Out of londJLaunfal schall fle. 
 And as they stod thus spekynge. 
 The barouns sawe come rydynge 
 
 Ten maydenes bryght of ble, 850 
 
 Ham thoghte they were so bryght and schene. 
 That the lodlokest, wythout wene, 
 
 Har quene than myghte be. 
 
 Tho seyde Gawayn, that corteys knyght, 
 Launfal, brodyr, drede the no wyght, 
 
 Her Cometh thy lemman hende. 
 Launfal answerede, and seyde Y wys, 
 Non of ham my lemman nys, 
 
 Gawayn, my lefly frende. 
 To that castell they wente ryghte, 860 
 
 At the gate they gonne alyght, 
 
 Befor kyng Artour gonne they wende, 
 And bede hym make a redy hastyly 
 A fayr chamber for her lady. 
 
 That was come of kinges kende. 
 
 Ho ys your lady ? Artour seyde. 
 Ye schull y wyte, seyde i}\^ maydc, 
 For sche cometh ryde. 
 
Metrical Romances. 29 
 
 The kyng commaundede, for her sake, 
 
 The fayryst chaunber for to take, 870 
 
 In hys palys that tyde. 
 And anon to hys barouns he sente. 
 For to yeve jugemente 
 
 Upon that traytour full of pryde ; 
 The barouns answerede, anoon ryght. 
 Have we seyn the madenes bryght, 
 
 Whe schull not longe abyde. 
 
 A newe tale they gonne tho, 
 Some of wele, and some of wo, 
 
 Har lord the kyng to queme, 880 
 
 Some dampnede Launfal there, 
 And some made hym quyt and skerc, 
 
 Har tales wer well breme. 
 Tho saw they other ten maydenes bryght, 
 Fayryr than the other ten of syght. 
 
 As they gone hym deme. 
 They ryd upon joly moyles of Spayne, 
 With sadell and brydell of Champaync, 
 
 Her lorayns lyght gonne leme. 
 
 They wer yclodeth yn samyt tyre, 890 
 
 Ech man hadde greet desyre 
 
 To se har clodynge. 
 Tho seyde Gaweyn, that curtayse knyght, 
 Launfal, her cometh thy swete wyght. 
 
 That may thy bote brynge. 
 Launfal answerede, with drery doght. 
 And seyde, Alas, y knowe her noght, 
 
 Ne non of all the ofsprynge. 
 Forth they wente to that palys. 
 And lyghte at the hye deys, 900 
 
 Before Artour the kynge. 
 
 And grette the kyng and quene ek. 
 And 00 mayde thys wordes spak, 
 
 To the kyng Artour, 
 Thyn halle agrayde and hele the walles, 
 Wyth clodes and wyth ryche palles, 
 
 Ayens my lady Tryamour. 
 
30 Ancient English 
 
 The kyng answerede bedene, 
 Well come, ye maydenes schene, 
 
 Be our lord the savyour. 910 
 
 He commaundede Launcelot du Lake to brynge hem 
 
 yn fere, 
 In the chamber ther har felawes were, 
 
 Wyth merthe and moche honour. 
 
 Anoon the quene suppose gyle 
 That Launfal schulld yn a whyle 
 
 Be ymade quyt and skere, 
 Thorugh hys lemman that was commyngc, 
 Anon sche seyde to Artour the kyng, 
 
 Syre, curtays yf [thou] were. 
 Or yf thou lovedest thyn honour, 920 
 
 I schuld be awreke of that traytour. 
 
 That doth me changy chere, 
 To Launfal thou schuldest not spare. 
 Thy barouns dryveth the to bysmare. 
 
 He ys hem lef and dere. 
 
 And as the quene spak to the kyng. 
 The barouns seygh come rydynge 
 
 A damesele alone, 
 Upoon a whyt comely palfrey. 
 They saw never non so gay, 930 
 
 Upon the grounde gone. 
 Gentyll, jolyf, as bryd on bowe, 
 In all manere fayr inowe. 
 
 To wonye yn worldly wone, 
 The lady was bryght as blosme on brere, 
 Wyth eyen gray, wyth lovelych chere. 
 
 Her leyre lyght schoone. 
 
 As rose on rys her rode was red. 
 The her schon upon her hed, 
 
 As gold wyre that schynyth bryght ; 940 
 
 Sche hadde a croune upon her molde, 
 Of ryche stones and of golde, 
 
Metrical Romances. 3 1 
 
 That lossom lemede lyght. 
 The lady was clad yn purpere palle, 
 Wyth gentyll body and myddyl small. 
 
 That semely was of syght ; 
 Her mantyll was furryth with whyt ermyn, 
 Ireversyd jolyf and fyn, 
 
 No rychere be ne myght. 
 
 Her sadell was semyly sett, 950 
 
 The sambus wer grene felvet, 
 
 Ipaynted with ymagerye. 
 The bordure was of belles, 
 Of ryche gold and nothing elles, 
 
 That any man myghte aspye. 
 In the arsouns, before and behynde, 
 Were twey ftones of Ynde, 
 
 Gay for the maystrye ; 
 The paytrelle of her palfraye. 
 Was worth an erldome, stoute and gay, 960 
 
 The best yn Lumbardye. 
 
 A gerfawcon sche bar on her hond, 
 A softe pas her palfray fond, 
 
 That men her schuld beholde ; 
 Thorugh Karlyon rood that lady, 
 Twey whyte grehoundys ronne hyr by, 
 
 Har colers were of golde. 
 And whan Launfal sawe that lady. 
 To alle the folk he gon crye an hy, 
 
 Both to yonge and olde, 970 
 
 Her, he seyde, comyth my lemman swete, 
 Sche myghte me of my balys bete, 
 
 Yef that lady wolde. 
 
 Forth sche wente ynto the halle, 
 
 Ther was the quene and the ladyes alle, 
 
 And also kyng Artour, 
 Her maydenes come ayens her ryght, 
 To take her styrop whan sche lyght. 
 
 Of the lady dame Tyramour. 
 
32 Ancient English Romances. 
 
 Sche dede of her mantyll on the flet, 980 
 
 That men schuld her beholde the bet, 
 
 Wythoute a more sojour, 
 Kyng Artour gan her sayre grete, 
 And sche hym agayn, with wordes swete. 
 
 That were of greet valour. 
 
 Up stod the quene and ladyes stoute, 
 Her for to beholde all aboute. 
 
 How evene sche stod upryght ; 
 Than wer they wyth her also donne, 
 As ys the mone ayen the sonne, 990 
 
 A day whan hyt ys lyght. 
 Than seyde sche to Artour the kyng, 
 Syr, hydyr i com for swych a thyng. 
 
 To skere Launfal the knyght. 
 That he never, yn no folye, 
 Besofte the quene of no drurye. 
 
 By dayes ne be nyght. 
 
 Therfor, syr kyng, good kepe thou myne. 
 He bad naght her, but sche bad hym. 
 
 Here lemman for to be ; 1 000 
 
 And he answerede her and seyde. 
 That hys lemmannes lothlokest mayde 
 
 Was fayryr than was sche. 
 Kyng Artour seyde, wythoute nothe, 
 Ech may ysS that ys sothe, 
 
 Bryghtere that ye be. 
 Wyth that dame Tryamour to the quene geth. 
 And blew on her swych a breth. 
 
 That never eft myght sche se. 
 
 The lady lep an hyr palfray, loio 
 
 And bad hem alle have good day, 
 
 Sche nolde no lengere abyde ; 
 Wyth that com Gyfre all so prest, 
 Wyth Launfalys stede out of the forest. 
 
 And stod Launfal besyde. 
 The knyght to horse began to sprynge, 
 Anoon wythout any lettynge, 
 
 Wyth hys lemman away to ryde ; 
 
Metrical R omances . 3 3 
 
 The lady tok her maydenys achon. 
 And wente the way that sche hadde cr gon, 1020 
 Wyth solas and wyth pryde. 
 
 The lady rod dorth Cardevyle, 
 Fer ynto a jolyf ile, 
 
 Olyroun that hyghte ; 
 Every yer upon a certayn day, 
 Me may here Launfales stede nay, 
 
 And hym se with syght. 
 Ho that wyll there axsy Justus, 
 To kepe hys armes fro the rustus. 
 
 In turnement other fyght ; 1030 
 
 Dar he never forther gon, 
 Ther he may fynde justes anoon, 
 
 Wyth syr Launfal the knyght. 
 
 Thus Launfal, wythouten fable. 
 
 That noble knyght of the rounde table, 
 
 Was take yn to the fayrye ; 
 Seththe saw hym yn thys lond no man, 
 Ne no more of hym telle y ne can. 
 
 For sothe, wythout lye. 
 Thomas Chestre made thys tale, 1040 
 
 Of the noble knyght syr Launfale, 
 
 Good of chyvalrye. 
 Jhesus, that ys hevene kyng, 
 Yeve us alle hys blessyng. 
 
 And hys modyr Marye ! 
 

 LYBEAUS DISCONUS. 
 
 This ancient romance is preserved in the Cotton MS. already 
 mentioned, marked Caligula A. II. from which it is here given. 
 About the latter half of another copy is in one of Sir Matthew 
 Hales' MSS. in the library of Lincoln's Inn, apparently a different 
 translation, but only containing, as usual, numberless various 
 readings of little consequence ; a third is said by Dr. Percy to be 
 in his folio MS. It was certainly printed before the year 1600, 
 being mentioned, by the name of " Libbius," in " Vertue's common 
 wealth ; or The highway to honour," by Henry Crosse, published 
 in that year ; and is even alluded to by Skelton, who died in 
 1529:— 
 
 " And of Sir Libius named Disconius." 
 
 The French original is unknown. 
 
 A story similar to that which forms the principal subject oFthe 
 present poem may be found in the " Voiage and travaile of sir 
 John Maundeville'' (London, 1725, 8vo, p. 28). It, likewise, by 
 some means, has made its way into a pretendedly ancient 
 Northumberland ballad, entitled " The laidly worm of Spindleston- 
 heugh," written, in reality, by Robert Lambe, vicar of Norham, 
 author of "The history of chess," &c, who had, however, heard 
 some old stan2;as, of which he availed himself, sung by a maid- 
 servant. The remote original of all these stories was, probably, 
 
 * i.e. ic Beau descotmu, or the fair unknown. The running-title is ever after 
 uniformly Descmus ; but the editor thought himself at liberty to follow the head, 
 which bears Discotius; and had proceeded too far before he began to doubt the 
 propriety of his conduct. It is never Dhcoims in the text. Mr. Tyrwhitt, how- 
 ever, so prints it. 
 
36 Ancient English Romances. 
 
 much older than the time of Herodotus, by whom it is related 
 (Urania). 
 
 Chaucer, in his "Rime of sire Thopas," among the "romances 
 of pris" there enumerated, mentions those 
 
 " Of sire Libeaux and Pleindamour," 
 
 (as Tyrwhitt reads after all the MSS. truly, and the old printed 
 copies having Blandamoure, or Blaindamoure) ; upon which the 
 learned and ingenious editor of the " Reliques of ancient English 
 poetry," in the first three editions of that work, remarks that 
 " As sir [Pleindamoure or] Blandamoure, no romance with this 
 title has been discovered ; but as the word occurs in that of 
 Libeaux, 'tis possible Chaucer's memory deceived him : a remark, 
 in which he is implicitly followed by his friend Warton, who says, 
 " Of sir Blandamoure, I find nothing more than the name 
 occurring in Sir Lebeaux " (History of English Poetry, I, 208) ; 
 which he, most certainly, did not there find. "Even the titles of 
 our old romances," he says, " such as Sir Blandamoure, betray their 
 French extraction." {lb. 139.) From the fourth and last edition, 
 however, of the said Reliques, we now learn that the word in 
 question is neither Pleindamoure nor Blandamoure, but Blaunde- 
 mere, which is foreign to the purpose ; neither does any such 
 name occur in the present copy ; nor, as the passage is carefully 
 suppressed by the right reverend possessor, can one venture to 
 imagine whether it be that of a man, a woman, or a horse.* This 
 force of tergiversation has, to use the worthy prelate's own words, 
 "destroyed all confidence." 
 
 Generally speaking, the Cotton MS. has z for y or gh, and y 
 for th. The rhymes also of the third and sixth lines of every two 
 stanzas are the same, except in a few instances, which have 
 rendered it necessary to disregard that circumstance. 
 
 * This 'venerahUtsfimus episcopus had the address to persuade a gentleman to whom 
 he shewed his folio MS. and whose testimony was to convince the scepticism of the 
 present editor, that he actually saw the word Blandamoure, which, it now turns out, 
 does not exist ; though he would not suffer him to transcribe the line in which 
 it occurred : he will easily recollect his name ; upon a different occasion he gave 
 Mr. Steevens a transcript from the above MS. of the vulgar ballad of Old Simon the 
 king, with a strict injunction not to show it to this editor (who suspected, as the fact 
 turned out, that he had sophisticated it, in a note to the last edition of Shakespeare], 
 which, however, he immediately brought to him. 
 
LYBEAUS DISCONUS. 
 
 Jhesu Cryst, our savyour, 
 
 And hys modyr, that swete flowr, 
 
 Helpe hem at her nede 
 That harkeneth of a conquerour, 
 Wys of wytte and whyght werrour, 
 
 And doughty man in dede. 
 Hys name was called Geynleyn, 
 Beyete he was of syr Gaweyn, 
 
 Be a forest syde ; 
 Of stouter knyght, and profytable, 
 Wyth Artour of the rounde table,* 
 
 Ne herde ye never rede. 
 
 * This famous table, to which were attached one hundred knights, was the 
 property of Leodegrance, king of Camelard, who appears to have had it from 
 Uther Pendragon, for whom it had been made by the sorcerer Merlin, in token, as 
 the book says, of the roundness of the world, (or, according to his own romance), in 
 imitation of one established by Joseph of Arimathea, in the name of that which 
 Jesus had made at the supper of the twelve apostles, (see vol. I. fo. 40, Sec), and 
 came to king Arthur, as the portion of his wife Guenever, daughter of that monarch 
 Every knight had his seat, in which was his name, written in letters of gold. One 
 of these was "the siege perillous," where no man was to sit but one: an honour 
 reserved for Sir Galaad, the son of Lancelot du Lake. " King Arthur," according 
 to the history, " stablished all his knights, and gave them lands that were not rich 
 of land, and charged them never to do outrage nor murder, and always to fle treason. 
 Also, by no means, to be cruel, but to give mercy unto him that asked mercy, upon 
 paine of forfeiture of their worship, and lordship of king Arthur, for evermore, and 
 alway to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen, succour upon paine of death. Also 
 that no man take no battailes in a wrong quarell for no law, nor for wordly goods. 
 Unto this were all the knights sworne of the round table, both old and young.' 
 Mart d'Ar:iur, Part L, C. 59. It is not once mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth, 
 
38 Ancient English 
 
 Thys Gynleyn was fayr of syght, 
 Gentyll of body, of face bryght, 
 
 All bastard yef he were ; 
 Hys modyr kepte hym yn clos, 
 For douute of wykkede loos. 
 
 As doughty chyld and dere. 
 
 And for love of hys fayr vyys, 
 
 Hys modyr clepede hym Bewfys, 20 
 
 And no nothyr name ; 
 And hymself was full nys. 
 He ne axede naght, y wys. 
 
 What he hyght, at hys dame. 
 As hyt befelle upon a day. 
 To wode he wente, on hys play. 
 
 Of dere to have hys game ; 
 He fond a knyght whar he lay. 
 In armes that war stout and gay, 
 
 Isclayne, and made full tame. 30 
 
 That chyld dede of the knyghtes wede, 
 And anon he gan hym schrede. 
 
 In that ryche armur ; 
 Whan he hadde do that dede, 
 To Glastynbery he yede, 
 
 Ther ley the kyng Artour. 
 
 He knelede yn the halle. 
 Before the knyghtes alle. 
 
 And grette hem with honour ; 
 And seyde, Kyng Artour, my lord, 40 
 
 Graunte me to speke a word, 
 
 I pray the pur amour. 
 
 though Master Wace, not twenty years after the time of that unworthy prelate, 
 thus speaks of it : — 
 
 " Fist Artur la ronde table, 
 Dunt Breton liient meinte fable." 
 
Metrical Romances. 39 
 
 Than seyde Artour the kyng, 
 Anoon without any dwellyng, 
 
 Tell me thyn name uplyght, 
 For sethen y was ybore, 
 Ne fond y me before 
 
 Non so fayr of syght. 
 
 That chylde seyde, Be seynt Jame, 
 
 I not what ys my name, 5° 
 
 I am the more nys ; 
 But, whyle y was at hame. 
 My modyr, yn her game, 
 
 Clepede me Beaufyz. 
 Than seyde Artour the kyng, 
 Thys ys a wonder thyng. 
 
 Be god and seynt Denys, 
 Whanne he that wolde be a knyght, 
 Ne wat noght what he hyght. 
 
 And ys so fayr of vys. 60 
 
 Now wyll y yeve hym a name, 
 Before yow alle yn same, 
 
 For he ys so fayr and fre ; 
 Be god, and be seynt Jame, 
 So clepede hym never hys dame, 
 
 What woman that so hyt be. 
 Now clepeth hym alle yn us 
 Lybeaux desconus. 
 
 For the love of me ; * 
 Than may ye wete a row 70 
 
 The fayre unknowe, 
 
 Sertes so hatte he. 
 
 * Giglan, the natural son of Gawain and the fairy Blanchevalke^ appears at the 
 court of king Arthur ; and, being asked his name, says that his mother (who had 
 carefully concealed it) had never called him anything but Beaufih ; in consequence of 
 which the queen gives him that of Le bet inconnu. (Histoire de Giglan, n. d, 4to, g. 1.) 
 In this romance the lady is called Helen j but the main incidents bear little or no 
 resemblance to those of hybeaui. See also the episode or adventure of BeaumaitiSj in 
 Sir Thomas Malory's Mori d' Arthur. 
 
 In the Promptorium farvulorum (Har. MS, 221) Befyce is explained _/?/(»!. 
 
40 Ancient English 
 
 Kyng Artour anon ryght 
 Made hym tho a knyght, 
 
 In the selve day ; 
 And yaf hym armes bryght, 
 Hym gertte wyth swerde of myght, 
 
 For sothe as y yow say. 
 And henge on hym a scheld, 
 Ryche and over geld 80 
 
 Wyth a grifFoun of say ; 
 And hym betok hys fader Gaweyn, 
 For to teche hym on the playne, 
 
 Of ech knyghtes play. 
 
 Whan he was knyght imade, 
 Anon a bone there he bad. 
 
 And seyde, My lord so fre. 
 In herte y were ryght glad. 
 That ferste fyghte yf y had, 
 
 That ony man asketh the. 90 
 
 Thanne seyde Artour the kyng, 
 I grante the thyn askyng, 
 
 What batayle that so hyt be ; 
 But me thyngeth thou art to ying. 
 For to done a good fyghtynge. 
 
 Be awght that y can se. 
 
 Wythoute more resoun, 
 Duk, erl, and baroun, 
 
 Whesch and yede to mete ;* 
 
 * It was a constant custom, in former times, to wash the hands before sitting 
 down to, and after rising up from table. Thus, in Emare, ^.217 : — 
 " Then the lordes that wer grete. 
 They wesh and seten down to mete. 
 And folk hem served swyde." 
 Again, V. 889 :— 
 
 " Then the lordes, that wer grete, 
 Wheschen ayeyn aftyr mete. 
 And then com spycerye." 
 Again, in Sir Orpheo, V. 473 : — 
 
 **The steward wasched and wente to mete.'' 
 Again, in Le bone Florence of Rome, V. 1009 : — 
 
 "Then they wysche, and to mete be gone." 
 Thus, also, in Robyn Hotie and the potter^ the sheriff says — 
 " Let OS was, and go to mete.'' 
 
Metrkal Romances. 41 
 
 Of all manere fusoun, 100 
 
 As lordes of renoun, 
 
 Ynowgh they hadde etc. 
 Ne hadde Artour bote a whyle, 
 The mountance of a myle, 
 
 At hys table ysete, 
 Ther com a mayde ryde, 
 And a dwerk be here syde, 
 
 All beswette for hete. 
 
 That mayde was clepede Elene, 
 
 Gentyll, bryght, and schene, 1 10 
 
 A lady messenger ; 
 Ther nas contesse, ne quene, 
 So semelych on to sene, 
 
 That myghte be her pere. 
 Sche was clodeth in Tars, 
 Rowme and nodyng skars, 
 
 Pelvred wyth blauner ; 
 Her sadell and her brydell, yn fere. 
 Full of dyamandys were, 
 
 Melk was her destrere. 120 
 
 The dwerk was clodeth yn Ynde, 
 Before and ek behynde, 
 
 Stout he was and pert ; 
 Among alle Crystene kende, 
 Swych on ne schold no man fynde, 
 
 Hys surcote was overt. 
 Hys herd was yelow as ony wax, 
 To hys gerdell henge the plex, 
 
 I dar well say yn certe ; 
 Hys schon wer with gold ydyght, 130 
 
 And kopeth as a knyght, 
 
 That semede no povert. 
 
 Teandelayn was hys name. 
 Well swyde sprong hys fame, 
 
 Be north and be southe ; 
 Myche he couthe of game, 
 With sytole, sautrye yn same. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Harpe, fydele and crouthe. 
 He was a noble dysour, 
 Wyth ladyes of valour, '4° 
 
 A mery man of mouthe ; 
 He spak to that mayde hende, 
 To telle thyn erynde, 
 
 Tyme hyt were nouthe. 
 
 That mayde knelede yn halle, 
 Before the knyghtes * alle. 
 
 And greet hem wyth honour, 
 And seyde, A cas ther ys yfalle, 
 Worse wythyn walla 
 
 Was never non of dolour. 150 
 
 My lady of Synadowne : !, 
 
 Is broght yn strong pryson. 
 
 That ys greet of valour, 
 Sche prayd the sende her a knyght, 
 With herte good and lyght, 
 
 To Wynne her with honour. 
 
 Up start the yonge knyght, 
 Hys herte was good and lyght, 
 
 And seyde, Artour, my lord, 
 I schall tho that fyght, 160 
 
 And Wynne that lady bryght, 
 
 Yef thou art trewe of word. 
 Than seyde Artour, That ys soth, 
 Certayn withoute noth, 
 
 Thereto y bere record ; 
 God grante the grace and myght, 
 To holde up that lady ryghte, 
 
 Wyth dente of thy sword. 
 
 Than gan Elene to chyde 
 
 And seyde, Alas that tyde 170 
 
 That i was hyder ysent ! 
 Thys word schall spryng * wyde. 
 Lord kyng now ys thy threde 
 
 And thy manhod yschent. 
 
 * Original reading : kny%le. \ Original reading : spyng. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 43 
 
 Whan thou schalt sende a chyld 
 That ys wytles and wylde, 
 
 To dele thoghty dent, 
 And hast knyghtes of mayn, 
 Launcelet, Perceval, and Gaweyn, 
 
 Prys yn ech turnement. i go 
 
 Lybeaus desconus answerde * 
 Yet was y never aferde 
 
 For doute of mannys awe. 
 To fyghte wyth spere or swerd, 
 Some dell y have yierde, 
 
 Ther many men were yslawe. 
 He that fleth for drede, 
 I wolde, be way or strete, 
 
 Hys body wer to-drawe ; 
 I wyll the batayle take, 190 
 
 And never on forsake, 
 
 As hyt ys Artours lawc. 
 
 Than seyde Artour anon ryght. 
 Thou getest none other knyght. 
 
 Be god that boghte me dere, 
 Yef the thyngyth hym not wyght.t 
 Go gete the on wher thou myght. 
 
 That be of more powere. 
 That mayde, for wreththe and hete, 
 Nolde neydyr drynke ne ete, 200 
 
 For alle tho that ther were. 
 But satte down all thys mayd, 
 Tyll the table was ylayd, 
 
 Sche and the dwerke yn fere. 
 
 Kyng Artour yn that stounde, 
 Hette of the table rounde. 
 
 Four the beste knyhtes, 
 In armes hole and sounde. 
 The beste that myghte be founde, 
 
 Arme Lybeaus anoon ryghtes. zio 
 
 * Original reading : amiuerede. 
 ■f- Original reading : Yef he thyngeth the not •wyght.. 
 
44 Ancient English 
 
 And seyde, thorgh helpe of Cryst, 
 That in the flome tok baptyste, 
 
 He schall holde all hys heghtes, * 
 And be good champyoun 
 To the lady of Synadoun, 
 
 And holde up alle her ryghtes. 
 
 To army thir knyghtes wer fayn, 
 The ferste was syr Gaweyn, 
 
 That other syr Percevale, 
 The thyrthe syr Eweyn,t 220 
 
 The ferthde was syr Agrafrayn ; 
 
 So seyth the Frenzsch tale. 
 They caste on hym a scherte of selk, 
 A gypell as whyte as melk, 
 
 In that semely sale ; 
 And syght an hawberk bryght, 
 That rychely was adyght, 
 
 Wyth mayles thykke and smale. 
 
 Gaweyn hys owene syre 
 
 Heng abowte hys swyre 230 
 
 A scheld with a gryffoun, 
 And Launcelet hym broght a sper, 
 In werre with hym well to were, 
 
 And also a fell fachoun. 
 And syr Oweyn hym broght a stede, 
 That was good at everych nede, 
 
 And egre as lyoun, 
 And an helm of ryche atyre, 
 That was stele, and noon yre, 
 
 Percevale sette on hys croun. 240 
 
 The knyght to hers gan spryng. 
 And rod to Artour the kyng. 
 
 And seyde, My lord hende, 
 Yef me thy blessynge, 
 Anoon wythoute dwellynge, 
 
 My wyll ys for to wende. 
 
 Original reading : /(arcs. -f- Original reading ; Gvieyn. 
 
Metrical Romances. ^(.5 
 
 Artour hys hond up haf. 
 
 And hys blessynge he hym yaf, 
 
 As korteys kyng and hende ; 
 And seyde, God grante the grace, 250 
 
 And of spede space, 
 
 To brynge the lady out of bende. 
 
 The mayde, stout and gay, 
 Lep on her palfray, 
 
 The dwerk rod hyr besyde : 
 And tyll the thyrde day 
 Upon the knyght alwey 
 
 Ever sche began chyde. 
 And seyde, Lorell and kaytyf,* 
 They thou wher worth swyche t fyfc, 260 
 
 Ytynt now ys thy pryde ; 
 Thys pase before kepeth a knyght. 
 That wyth ech man wyll fyght, 
 
 Hys name ys spronge wyde. 
 
 Wylleam Celebronche, 
 
 Hys fyght may no man staunch. 
 
 He ys werrour so wyth ; 
 Thorugh herte, other thorugh honche, 
 Wyth hys sper he wyll launche 
 
 All that ayens hym ryghtte. 270 
 
 Than seyd Lybeaus desconus, 
 Is hys feghtynge swych vys ? 
 
 Was he never yhytte ? 
 Whatsoever me betyde. 
 To hym y wyll ryde, 
 
 And loke how he sytte. 
 
 » Beaumains, in his expedition to relieve the Lady Liones, is treated in a similar 
 manner by her sister Linet j it is a very entertaining adventure. See Mort d' Arthur, 
 Pi C. 122 &c. See, also, that of the damsel Maledimunt, and the young knight 
 nicknamed La cote male taile P. 2, C. 44. 
 
 f Original reading : Jwyr. 
 
4^ Ancient English 
 
 Forth they ryden all thre, 
 
 Wyth merthe and greet solempnytc, 
 
 Be a castell aunterous, 
 And the knyght they gon ysfe, 280 
 
 larmeth bryght of ble, 
 
 Up on the Vale perylous. 
 He bar a scheld of grene, 
 Wyth thre lyouns of gold schene, 
 
 Well prowde and precyous, 
 Of wych lengell and trappes 
 To dele ech man rappes 
 
 Ever he was fous. 
 
 And whan he hadde of hem syght 
 
 To hem he rod full ryght, 290 
 
 And seyde, Welcome, beau ft er. 
 Ho that rydyght her day other nyght 
 Wyth me he mot take fyght, 
 
 Other leve hys armes here. 
 Well, seyde Lybeaus desconus, 
 For love of swete Jhesus, 
 
 Now let us passe skere ; 
 We haveth for to wende, 
 And beth fer from our frende, 
 
 I and thys meyde yn fere. 300 
 
 Wylleam answerede tho, 
 Thou myght not skapy so, 
 
 So god gef me good reste. 
 We wylleth er thou go 
 Fyghte bothe two 
 
 A forlang her be-weste. 
 Than seyde Lybeaus, Now y se 
 That hyt nell non other be. 
 
 In haste tho dy beste. 
 Thou take thy cours wyth schafte, 310 
 
 Yef thou art knyght of crafte, 
 
 For her es myn all preste. 
 
Metrical Romances. 47 
 
 No lengere they nolde abyde, 
 Togedere they gonne ryde, 
 
 Wyth well greet randoun ; 
 Lybeaus desconus that tyde 
 Smot Wylleam yn the syde 
 
 Wyth a sper feloun. 
 And Wylleam sat so faste. 
 That hys styropes to-braste, 320 
 
 And hys hynder arsoun ; 
 Wylleam gan to stoupe 
 Mydde hys horses kroupe 
 
 That he fell adoun. 
 
 Hys stede ran away, 
 Wylleam ne naght longe lay, 
 
 But start up anoon ryght ; 
 And seyde. Be my fay,* 
 Before thys ylke day 
 
 Ne fond y non so wyght. 330 
 
 Now my stedf ys ago, 
 Fyghte we a fote also. 
 
 As thou art hendy knyght. 
 Tho seyde Lybeau desconus. 
 Be the love of Jhesus, 
 
 Therto y am full lyght. 
 
 Togedere they gone spryng, 
 Fauchouns hy gonne out flyng, 
 
 And foghte fell and faste ; 
 So harde they gonne drynge 340 
 
 That feer, without lesynge. 
 
 Out of har helmes braste. 
 But Wylleam Selebraunche 
 Lybeau desconus gan lonche 
 
 Thorghout that scheld yn haste, 
 A kantell fell to grounde, 
 Lybeau that ylke stounde 
 
 In hys herte hyt kaste. 
 
 ■ Original reading: lay. ■)• Original reading: iste. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Thanne Lybeaus wys and whyght 
 
 Before hym as a noble knyght, 350 
 
 As werrour queynte and sclegh, 
 Hawberk and krest yn fyght 
 He made fie doun ryght 
 
 Of Wylleames helm and hegh. 
 And wyth the poynt of hys swerd 
 He schavede Wylleam ys berd. 
 
 And com by flessch ryght neygh ; 
 Wylleam smot to hym tho. 
 That hys sword brast a-two. 
 
 That many man hyt seygh. 360 
 
 Tho gan Wylleam to crye, 
 For love or Seynt Marye, 
 
 Alyve let me passe ; 
 Hyt wer greet vylanye 
 To tho a knyght to deye 
 
 Wepeneles yn place. 
 Than seyde Lybeaus desconus, 
 For love of swete Jhesus, 
 
 Of lyve hast thou no grace, 
 But yef thou swere an oth, 370 
 
 Er than we two goth, 
 
 Ryght her before my face. 
 
 In haste knele adoun, 
 And swer an my fachoun 
 
 Thou schalt to Artour wende, 
 And sey, Lord of renoun, 
 As overcome and prysoun, 
 
 A knyght me hyder gan sende. 
 That ys yclepede yn us 
 Lybeaus desconus, 380 
 
 Unknowe of keth and kende. 
 Wylleam on knees doun sat, 
 And swor as he hym hat. 
 
 Her forward word and ende. 
 
Metrical Romances. 4.9 
 
 Thus departede they alle, 
 Wyllyam to Artours halle 
 
 Tok the ryghte way ; 
 As kas hyt began falle 
 Knyghtes proud yn palle 
 
 He mette that selve day. 390 
 
 Hys susteres sones thre 
 Wher the knyghtes fre, 
 
 That weren so stout and gay, 
 Whann they sawe Wyllyam blede, 
 As men that wolde awyede, 
 
 They made greet deray : 
 And seyde, Eem Wylleam, 
 Ho hath doun the thys scham. 
 
 That thou bledest so yerne ? 
 He seyde, Be seynt Jame, 400 
 
 On that naght to blame, 
 
 A knyght stout and sterne. 
 
 A dwerk ryght her before, 
 Hys squyer as he wore, 
 
 And ek a well fayr wyght ; 
 But othyng grevyth me sore, 
 That he hath do me swore. 
 
 Upon hys fawchon bryght. 
 That y ne schall never more, 
 Tyll y come Artour before, 410 
 
 Sojourne day ne nyght. 
 For prisoner i mot me yeld, 
 As overcome yn feld, 
 
 Of hys owene knyght. 
 And never ayens hym here 
 Nother scheld ne spere ; 
 
 All this y have hym hyght. 
 
 Thanne seyde the knyghtes thre, 
 Thou schalt full well awreke be. 
 
 For sothe wythout faylc ; 420 
 
 He alone ayens us thre 
 Nys naght worth a stre 
 
 For to holdc batayle. 
 
50 Ancient English 
 
 Wend forth, eem, and do thyn othe. 
 And the traytour, be the rothe, 
 
 We schull hym asayle ; 
 Right, be godes grace, 
 Ther he thys forest passe 
 
 Thaugh he be dykke of mayle. 
 
 Now lete we Wylyam be, 430 
 
 That wente yn hys jorne, 
 
 Toward Artour the kyng ; 
 Of these knyghtes thre 
 Hearkeneth, lordynges fre, 
 
 A ferly fayr fyghtynge. 
 They armede hem full well, 
 Yn yren and yn stel, 
 
 Wythout ony dwellyng,* 
 And leptede on stedes sterne. 
 And after gon yerne, 440 
 
 To sle that knyght so yenge. 
 
 Herof wyste no wyght 
 Lybeaus the yonge knyght. 
 
 But rod forth pas be pas ; 
 He and that mayde bryght 
 Togydere made all nyght 
 
 Game and greet solas. 
 Mercy hy gan hym crye 
 That hy spak vylanye. 
 
 He foryaf here that trespas. 450 
 
 De dwerke was her squyer, 
 And servede her fer and ner, 
 
 Of all that nede was. 
 
 A morn, whan that hyt was day. 
 They wente yn har jornay 
 
 Toward Synadowne, 
 Thanne saw they knyghtes thre. 
 In armes bryght of ble, 
 
 Ryde out of Karlowne. 
 
 * Original reading : Wellyng. 
 
Metrical Romances. 5 i 
 
 All yarmed ynto the teth, 460 
 
 Everych swor hys deth, 
 
 And stedes baye browne, 
 And cryde to hym full ryght, 
 Thef, turne agayn and fyght, 
 
 Wyth the we denketh roune. 
 
 Lybeaus desconus tho kryde, 
 I am redy to ryde 
 
 Ayens yow all ysame. 
 He prikede, as pryns yn pryde, 
 Hys stede yn bothe syde, 470 
 
 In ernest and yn game. 
 The eldest brother gan bere 
 To syr Lybeaus a spere, 
 
 Syr Gower was hys name. 
 But Lybeaus hym so nygh, 
 That he brak hys thegh, 
 
 And ever efte he was lame. 
 
 The knyght gronede for payne, 
 Lybeaus wyth myght and mayne, 
 
 Felde hym flat adownn ; 480 
 
 The dwerk Teondeleyn 
 Tok the stede be the rayne, 
 
 And lep ynto the arsoun : 
 And rod hym also sket 
 Ther that the mayde set. 
 
 That was fayr of fasoun, 
 Tho lough that mayde bryght. 
 And seyde Thys yonge knyght, 
 
 Ys chose for champyon. 
 
 The myddell brother com yerne, 490 
 
 Upon a stede sterne, 
 
 Egre as lyoun, 
 Hym thoghte hys body wold berne, 
 But he myght also yerne 
 
 Fell Lybeaus adoun. 
 
52 Ancient English 
 
 As werrour out of wytte, 
 Lybeaus on helm he smyt. 
 
 With a fell fachoun, 
 Hys strok so hard he set, 
 Thorgh helm and basnet, 5°° 
 
 That sword tochede hys croun. 
 
 Tho was Lybeaus agreved. 
 Whan he feld on hedde 
 
 That sword with egre mode, 
 Hys brond abowte he wevede. 
 All that he hyt he clevede, 
 
 As werrour wyld and wode. 
 Alias, he seyde tho, 
 Oon ayens two 
 
 To fyghte that ys good. 5 ' ° 
 
 Wei faste they smyte to hym, 
 And he wyth strokes grym. 
 
 Well harde ayens hem stode. 
 
 Tho sawe these knyghtes, 
 They ne hadde no myghtes 
 
 To feghte ayens her fo. 
 To syr Lybeaus they gon up-yelde 
 Bothe har sperys and har schelde, 
 
 And mercy cryde hym tho. 
 
 Lybeaus answerede. Nay, 5*° 
 
 The ne askapeth so away. 
 
 Be god that schop mankende ; 
 Thou and thy brederen tway* 
 Schull plyght her your fay. 
 
 To kyng Artour to wende ; 
 And sey, Lord of renounes. 
 As overcome and prysouns, 
 
 A knyght us hyder gan sende, 
 To dwelle yn your bandown,t 
 And yelde you tour and toun, 530 
 
 Ay wythouten ende. 
 
 * Original reading : tivayne. -f Original reading : handiuon. 
 
Metrical Romances. 53 
 
 And but ye wyllen tho so 
 Series y schall you slo, 
 
 Er than hyt be nyght ; 
 The knyghtes sweren tho 
 They wolde to Artour go, 
 
 And trewes ther they plyght. 
 Thus departede day, 
 Lybeaus and that may. 
 
 As they hadden tyght ; 540 
 
 Tyll the thyrde day 
 They ryde yn game and play, 
 
 He and that mayde bryght : 
 
 And ever they ryden west. 
 In that wylde forest. 
 
 Toward Synadowne ; 
 They nyste what ham was best 
 Taken they wolde reste. 
 
 And myght not come to toun ; 
 A logge they dyghte of leves, 550 
 
 In the grene greves, 
 
 With swordes bryght and broune ; 
 Therinne they dwellede all nyght. 
 He and that mayde bryght. 
 
 That was so fayr of fasoun ; 
 
 And the dwerk gan wake, 
 For noo thef ne schuld take 
 
 Har hors away with gyle ; 
 For drede he gan to quake. 
 For gret fer he sawe make 5^° 
 
 Thannes half a myle. 
 Arys, he seyde, yong knyght, 
 To horse that thou wer ydyght. 
 
 For dowte of peryle ; 
 For i here greet bost. 
 
 And fer smelle rost. 
 
 Be god and seynt Gyle. 
 Lybeaus was stout and fer. 
 And lepte on hys destrer, 
 
 Hente schelde and spere ; 570 
 
54 Ancient English 
 
 And rod toward the fyer. 
 And whanne he nyghede ner, 
 
 Two geauntes he saw ther. 
 That on was red and lothlych, 
 And that other swart as pych, 
 
 Grysly bothe of chere ; 
 That oon held yn hys barme 
 A mayde yclepte yn hys arme. 
 
 As bryght as blosle on brere. 
 
 The rede geaunt sterne 580 
 
 A wylde boor gan terne 
 
 Abowte upon a spyte ; 
 That fyer bryght gan berne, 
 The mayde cryde yerne 
 
 That som man schuld her ther wete: 
 And seyde, Wellaway ! 
 That ever i bode thys day, 
 
 With two fendes to sette ! 
 Now help, Marie mylde, 
 For love of thy chylde, 590 
 
 That y be naght foryette ! 
 
 Than seyde Lybeaus, Be seynt Jame, 
 To save thys mayde fro schame 
 
 Hyt wer a fayr apryse ; 
 To fyght with bothe yn same 
 Hyt wer no chyldes game, 
 
 That beth so grymme and gryse. 
 He tok hys cours wyth schafte, 
 As knyght of kende crafte, 
 
 And rod be ryght asyse ; 600 
 
 The blake geaunt he smot smert, 
 Thorgh the lyver, longe, and herte. 
 
 That never he myghte aryse. 
 
 Tho flawe that mayde schene. 
 And thankede hevene quene, 
 
 That swych socour her sente ; 
 Tho com that mayde Elene, 
 Sche and her dwerk y mene, 
 
 And be the hond her hente ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 5 5 
 
 And ladde her ynto the greves, 610 
 
 Into that logge of leves, 
 
 Wyth well good talent ; 
 And prayde swete Jhesus, 
 Helpe Lybeaus desconus, 
 
 That he wer naght yschent. 
 
 The rede geaunt there 
 
 Smot to Lybeaus wyth the bore, 
 
 As man that wold awede ; 
 The strokes he sette so sore. 
 That hys cursere therfore, 620 
 
 Deed to grounde yede, 
 Lybeaus was redy boun. 
 And lepte out of the arsoun, 
 
 As sperk thogh out of glede ; 
 And egre as a lyoun, 
 He faught wyth hys fachoun, 
 
 To quite the geauntes mede. 
 
 The geaunt ever faught, 
 And at the seconde draught, 
 
 Hys spyte brak a two ; 630 
 
 A tre yn honde he kaught, 
 As a man that wer up-sawght 
 
 To fyghte ayens hys fo. 
 And wyth the ende of the tre 
 He smot Lybeaus scheld a thre. 
 
 And tho was Lybeaus well wo ; 
 And er he eft the tre up haf, 
 A strok Lybeaus hym yaf, 
 
 Hys ryght arm fell hym fro. 
 
 The geaunt fell to grounde 640 
 
 Lybeaus that ylke stounde 
 
 Smot of hys hedde ryght 
 Hym that he yaf er wounde 
 In that ylke stounde. 
 
 He servede so aplyght. 
 He tok the heddes two. 
 And yaf hem the mayden tho, 
 
 That he hadde fore that fyght ; 
 
56 Ancient English 
 
 The mayde was glad and biythe. 
 And thonkede god fele syde 650 
 
 That ever was he made knyght. 
 
 Then seyde Lybeaus, Gentyl dame, 
 Tell me what ys thy name, 
 
 And wher thou wer ybore. 
 Schc seyde. Be seynt Jame, 
 My fader ys of ryche name, 
 
 Woneth her before. 
 An erl, an hold here knyght, 
 That hath be a man of myght, 
 
 Hys name ys syr Autore ; 660 
 
 Men clepeth me Vyolette, 
 For me these geauntes besette 
 
 Our castell full yore. 
 
 Yesterday yn the mornynge 
 Y wente on my playnge. 
 
 And noon evell nc thoughte. 
 The geauntes, wythout lesynge. 
 Out of a kave gonne sprynge. 
 
 And to thys fyer me brought. 
 Of hem y hedde ben yschent, 670 
 
 Ne god me socour hadde y sent. 
 
 That all thys world wrought ; 
 He yeldede thys good dede 
 That for us gan blede. 
 
 And wyth hys blod us bought. 
 
 Without ony more talkynge 
 To horse they gon sprynge. 
 
 And ryde forth all yn same ; 
 He tolde the erl tydynge 
 How he wan yn fyghtynge 680 
 
 Hys chyld fram wo and schame. 
 The two heddes wer ysent 
 Artour the kyng to present, 
 
 With mochell gle and game ; 
 Thanne ferst yn court aros 
 Lybeaus desconus los. 
 
 And hys gentyll fame. 
 
Metrical Romances. 5 7 
 
 The erl Autore also blyve 
 Profrede hys doftyr hym to wyve, 
 
 Vyolette that may ; 690 
 
 And kasteles ten and fyve 
 And all after hys lyve 
 
 Hys lend to have for ay. 
 Than seyde Lybeaus desconois, 
 Be the love of swete Jhesus, 
 
 Naught wyve yet y ne may ; 
 I have for to wende 
 Wyth thys mayde so hende, 
 
 And therefore have good day. 
 
 The erl, for hys good dede, 700 
 
 Yaf hym ryche wede, 
 
 Scheld and armes brycht ; 
 And also a noble stede, 
 That doughty was of dede. 
 
 In batayle and yn fyght. 
 They ryde forth all thre 
 Toward the fayre cyt^, 
 
 Kardevyle for soth hyt hyght ; 
 Thanne sawe they yn a park 
 A castell stout and stark, 710 
 
 That ryally was adyght. 
 
 Swych saw they never non, 
 Imade of lyme and ston, 
 
 Ikarneled all abowte ; 
 Oo, seyde Lybeaus, be seynt Jon, 
 Her wer a wordly won 
 
 For man that wer yn dowte. 
 Tho logh that mayde bryght. 
 And seyde hyt owyth a knyght 
 
 The beste her abowte ; 720 
 
 Ho that wyll wyth hym fyght. 
 Be hyt be day other nyght, 
 
 He doth hym lowe lowte. 
 
 For love of hys lemman, 
 That ys so fayr a woman, 
 He ha'th do crye and grede ; 
 
Ancient English 
 
 Ho that bryngeth a fayryr oon, 
 A jerfaukon whyt as swan 
 
 He schall have to mede. 
 Yef sche ys naght so bryght, 730 
 
 Wyth Gyfroun he mot fyght. 
 
 And ye may not spede ; 
 Hys hed schall of be raft, 
 And sette upon a sper schaft, 
 
 To se yn lengthe and brede. 
 
 And that thou mayst se full well 
 Ther stant yn ech a karnell 
 
 An hed other two upryght ; 
 Than seyde Lybeaus also snell, 
 Be god and seynt Mychell, 740 
 
 Wyth GyfFroun y schall fyght ; 
 And chalaunge the jerfawncon, 
 And sey that y have yn this toun, 
 
 A lemman to so bryght ; 
 And yef he her wyll se, 
 I wyll hym schewy the, 
 
 Be day other be nycht. 
 
 The dwerk seyde. Be Jhesus, 
 Gentyll Lybeaus desconus. 
 
 That wer a greet peryle, 750 
 
 Syr GyfFroun le flowdous 
 In fyghtyng he hath an us 
 
 Knyghtes to begyle, 
 Lybeaus answerede thar 
 Therof have thou no kar ; 
 
 Be god and be seynt Gyle, 
 I woll ysfe hys face 
 Er y westward pace 
 
 From thys cyte a myle. 
 
 Wythoute a more resoune 760 
 
 They tok har [yn] the toune. 
 
 And dwellede stylle yn pese,; 
 A morn Jjybeaus was boun 
 For to wynne renoun. 
 
 And ros, wythoute les : 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 5.9 
 
 And armede hym full sure. 
 In that selve arraure 
 
 That erl Autores was 5 
 Hys stede he began stryde, 
 The dwerk rod hym besyde, 770 
 
 Toward that prowde palys. 
 
 Syr Gyffroun le fludous 
 Aros as was hys uus. 
 
 In the morn-tyde ; 
 And whan he com out of hys hous. 
 He saw Lybeaus desconus 
 
 Com prykynde as pryns yn pryde^ 
 Wythoute a more abood 
 And ayens hym he rod, 
 
 And thus to hym he cryde, 780 
 
 Wyth voys that was schrylle ; * 
 Comyst thou for good, other for ylle ? 
 
 Tell me, and naght me hyde. 
 
 Than seyde Lybeaus al so tyte, 
 For y have greet delyte 
 
 Wyth the for to fyght ; 
 For thou seyst greet despyte 
 That woman half so whyt. 
 
 As thy lemman be ne myght ; 
 And y have on yn toune, 790 
 
 Fayryr of fassyoune, 
 
 In clothes whan sche ys dyght ; 
 Therfore thy gerfawcoun 
 To Artour the kyng wyth kroun 
 
 Bryng y schall wyth ryght. 
 
 Than seyde Gyfroun, Gentyll knyght. 
 How scholl we preve thys syght, 
 
 Whych of hem fayrer be ? 
 Lybeaus answerede aplyght, 
 In Cardevyle cyte ryght, 800 
 
 Ther ech man may hem se : 
 
 * Original reading : schyllt. 
 
6o Ancient English 
 
 And bothe they schull be sette 
 A myddes the market, 
 
 To loke on bothe bond and fre ; 
 Yf my lemman ys broun, 
 To Wynne the gerfawcoun 
 
 Fyghte y wyll wyth the. 
 
 Than seyde Gyfroun, al so snell, 
 To all thys y graunte well, 
 
 Thys day at underne-tyde ; 8io 
 
 Be god and be seynt Mychell, 
 Out of thys castell 
 
 To Karlof i schall ryde. 
 Har gloves up they held, 
 In forward as y teld, 
 
 As princes prowde yn pryde ; 
 Syr Lybeaus al so snell 
 Rod hom to hys castell. 
 
 No lenger * he nolde abyde ; 
 
 And commande mayde Elene, 820 
 
 As semelekest on to sene, 
 
 Buske her and make her boufi : 
 " I say, be hevene quene, 
 GyfFrouns lemman schene 
 
 This day schall come to toun : 
 And bothe men you schall ys4, 
 A mydward the cyte, 
 
 Both body and fasoun ; 
 Yef thou be naght so bryght, 
 Wyth Gyffroun i mot fyght, 830 
 
 To Wynne the Gerfaucoun." 
 
 Mayde Elene al so tyte. 
 In a robe of samyte 
 
 Anoon sche gan her tyre, 
 To tho Lybeaus profyte 
 In kevechers whyt, 
 
 Arayde wyth gold wyre. 
 
 • Original reading : Icng. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 A velvwet mantyll gay, 
 Pelvred wyth grys and gray, 
 
 Sche caste abowte her swyre, 840 
 
 A sercle upon her molde. 
 Of stones and ofgolde. 
 
 The best yn that enpyre. 
 
 Upon a pomely palfray 
 Lybeaus sette that may, 
 
 And ryden forth all thre ; 
 Thanne ech man gan to say, 
 Her Cometh a lady gay. 
 And semelych on to se. 
 
 Into the market sche rode, 850 
 
 And hovede and abode, 
 
 A mydwafd the cyt^ ; 
 Than sygh they Gyffroun come ryde, 
 And two squyeres be hys syde, 
 
 Wythout a more mayne. 
 
 He bar the scheld of goules. 
 Of sylver thre whyte oules. 
 
 Of gold was the bordure, 
 Of the selve colours. 
 And of non other flowrfis, 860 
 
 Was lyngell and trappure. 
 Hys squyer gan lede 
 Before hym upon a stede 
 
 Thre schaftes good and sure j 
 That other bar redy boun 
 The whyte gerfawcoun, 
 
 That leyd was to Wajoiir. 
 
 After hym com ryde 
 A lady proud yn pryde, 
 
 Was clodeth yn purpel palle ; 870 
 
 That folk com fer and wyde 
 To se her bak and syde. 
 
 How gentyll sche was and small. 
 Her mantyll was rosyne, 
 Pelvred with ermyne, 
 
 Well ryche and reall ; 
 
62 Ancient English 
 
 A sercle upon her molde, 
 Of stones and of golde, 
 Wyth many a juall. 
 
 As the rose her robe was red, 880 
 
 The her sehon on hyr heed, 
 
 As gold wyre schyneth bryght ; 
 Ayder browe as selken threde, 
 Abowte yn lengthe and yn brede, 
 
 Hyr nose was strath and ryght. 
 Her eyen gray as glas, 
 Melk-whyt was her * face, 
 
 So seyde that her sygh wyth syght ; 
 Her swere long and small, 
 Her beawte telle all 890 
 
 No man wyth mouth ne myght. 
 
 Togedere men gon hem bryng 
 A mydward the chepyng, 
 
 Har beawte to dyscrye ; 
 They seyde, olde and yenge, 
 For soth wythoute lesyng, 
 
 Betwene hem was partye. 
 Gyffrouns lemman ys clere 
 As ys the rose yn erbere, 
 
 For soth and naght to lye ; 900 
 
 And Elene, the messengere, 
 Semeth but a lavendere 
 
 Of her norserye. 
 
 Than seyde GyiFroun le fludous, 
 Syr Lybeaus desconus, 
 
 Thys hauk thou hast forlore ; 
 Than seyde Lybeaus desconus. 
 Nay swhych nas never myn uus, 
 
 Justy y well therfore. 
 And yef thou berest me doun, 910 
 
 Tak my heed the fawkoun. 
 
 As forward was before ; 
 
 * Original reading ; he. 
 
Metrical Romances. 63 
 
 And yf y here doun the. 
 
 The hauk schall wende wyth me, 
 
 Maugre thyn heed hore : 
 What help mo tales telld ? 
 They ryden yn to the feld. 
 
 And wyth ham greet partye ; 
 Wyth coronals stef and stelde, 
 Eyther smyt other in the schelde, 920 
 
 Wyth greet envye. 
 Har saftes breke asonder, 
 Har dentes ferthe as thonder. 
 
 That Cometh out of the skye ; 
 Taborus and trompours, 
 Herawdes goode descoveroiirs,* 
 
 Har strokes gon descrye. 
 
 Syr Gyffroun gan to speke, 
 
 Breng a schaft that nell naght breke. 
 
 A schaft wyth a cornall ; 930 
 
 Thys yonge ferly frek 
 Ys yn hys sadell steke. 
 
 As stone yn castell wall. 
 Thaugh he wer whyght werrour. 
 As Alysander, other Artour, 
 
 Launcelot, other Percevale, 
 I wyll do hym stoupe 
 Over hys horses croupe. 
 
 And yeve hym evele fall. 
 
 The knyghtes bothe two, 9^0 
 
 Togydere they ryden tho, 
 
 With well greet raundoun ; 
 Lybeaus smot Gyffroun so. 
 That hys scheld fell hym fro, 
 
 In that feld adoun. 
 The lough all that ther wes. 
 And seyde wythoute les, 
 
 Duke, erl, and baroun. 
 That yet never they ne seygh 
 Man that myghte dreygh 950 
 
 To justy wyth Gyffroun. 
 
 * Original reading : duco-venus. 
 
6<^ Ancient English 
 
 GyfFroun hys hors outryt. 
 And was wode out of wyt. 
 
 For he myghte naght spede ; 
 He rod agayn as tyd. 
 And Lybeaus so he smyt. 
 
 As man that wold awede. 
 But Lybeaus sat so faste. 
 That Gyffroun doun he caste, 
 
 Bothe hym and hys stede ; 960 
 
 Gyffrounys legge * to-brak. 
 That men herde the krak, 
 
 Aboute yn lengthe and brede. 
 
 Tho seyde all tho that ther wore, 
 That Gyffroun hadde forlore, 
 
 The whyte gerfawkoun ; 
 To Lybeaus thay hym bore. 
 And wente, lasse and more, 
 
 Wyth hym ynto the toune. 
 Syr Gyffroun, upon hys scheld, 970 
 
 Was ybore hom fram the feld, 
 
 Wyth care and rufull roun ; 
 The gerfawkoun ysent was, 
 Be a knyght that hyght Gludas, 
 
 To Artour kyng wyth kroun. 
 
 And wryten all the dede 
 Wyth hym he gan lede, 
 
 The hauk how that he wan ; 
 Tho Artour herde hyt rede. 
 To hys knyghtes he seyde, 980 
 
 Lybeaus well werry-kan. 
 He hath me sent the valour 
 Of noble dedes four 
 
 Sethe he ferst began ; 
 Now wyll y sende hym tresour, 
 To spendy wyth honour. 
 
 As falleth for swych a man. 
 
 And hundred pound honest 
 Of floryns wyth the best 
 
 He sente to Cardelof than ; 990 
 
 * Original reading : rigge. 
 
Metrical Romances. 65 
 
 Tho Lybeaus helde hys feste, 
 That fourty dayes leste. 
 
 Of lordes of renoun. 
 Than Lybeaus and that may 
 Token hyr ryghte way 
 
 Toward Synadowne. 
 And fayre her leve token thay, 
 To wende ynto another contray, 
 
 Of duk, erl and baroun ; 
 As they ryden an a lowe, 1 000 
 
 Homes herde they blowe, 
 
 Ther unther the doune ; 
 
 And houndes ronne greet and smale, 
 Hontes grette yn the vale 
 
 The dwerke seyde that drowe 
 For to telle soth my tale, 
 Fele yeres ferely fale 
 
 That horn well y thede knows. 
 Hym blowyth syr Otes de Lyle, 
 That servede my lady som whyle, 1010 
 
 In her semyly sale, 
 Whanne he was take wyth gyle 
 He flawe for greet peryle 
 
 West ynto Wyrhale. 
 
 As they ryde talkyngc 
 
 A rach ther come flyngynge 
 
 Overtwert the way, 
 Thanne seyde old and yynge, * 
 From her ferst gynnynge. 
 
 They ne sawe hond never so gay. 1020 
 
 He was of all colours 
 That man may se of flours, 
 
 Betwene Mydsomer and May ; 
 That mayde sayde al so snell, 
 Ne saw y never no juell 
 
 So lykynge to my pay : 
 
 • Original reading : yi'gc. 
 I 
 
66 Ancient English 
 
 God wold that y hym aughte ! 
 Lybeaus anoon hym kaghte. 
 
 And yaf hym to mayde Elene ; 
 They ryden forth all yn saght, 1030 
 
 And tolde how knyghtes faght. 
 
 For ladyes bryght and schene. 
 Ne hadde they ryde but a whyle, 
 The mountance of a myle, 
 
 In that forest grene, 
 They sawe an hynde com styke, 
 And two grehoundes ylyke, 
 
 Be that rech that y er of menc. 
 
 They hovede unther a lynde, 
 
 To se the cours of the hynde, 1040 
 
 Lybeaus and hys fere ; 
 Thanne seygh they come byhynde 
 A knyght iclodeth yn* Ynde, 
 
 Upon a bay destrere. 
 Hys bugle he gan to blowe, 
 For hys folk hyt schuld knowe 
 
 In what stede he wer ; 
 He seyde to hem that throwe, 
 Syr, that rach was myn owe, 
 
 Ygon for sevene yere : 1050 
 
 Frendes, leteth hym go. 
 Lybeaus answerede the, 
 
 That schall never betyde. 
 For wyth myn handes two 
 I hym yaf that mayde me fro 
 
 That hoveth me besyde. 
 Tho seyde ser Otes de Lyle, 
 Than artow yn peryle, 
 
 Byker yef thou abyde. 
 Tho seyde Lybeaus, Be seynt Gyle, 1060 
 
 I ne yeve naght of thy gyle, 
 
 Cherll, though thou chyde. 
 
 * Original reading : y. 
 
Metrical Romtitices. 67 
 
 Then seyde syr Otes de Lyle, 
 Syr, thyn wordes beth fyle, 
 
 Cherll was never my name ; 
 My fader an erll was whyle. 
 The countesse of Karlyle 
 
 Certes was my dame. 
 Wer ych yarmed now, 
 Redy as art thou, 1070 
 
 We wolde feyghte yn same ; 
 But thou the rach me leve, 
 Thou pleyyst, er hyt be eve, 
 
 A wonder wylde game. 
 
 Tho seyde Lybeaus also prest, 
 Therof tho thy best, 
 
 Thys rach schall wyth me wende. 
 They tok har way ryght west, 
 In that wylde forest, 
 
 Ryght as the dwerk hem kende. 1080 
 
 The lord wyth greet errour 
 Rod hom to hys tour, 
 
 And after hys frendes sende, 
 And tolde hem anon ryghtes 
 That on of Artourys knyghtes 
 
 Schamelych gan hym schendc ; 
 
 And hadde hys rach ynome. 
 Thanne seyde allc and some, 
 
 The traytour schall be take, 
 And never ayen hom come, 1090 
 
 Thaugh he wer thoghtyer gome, 
 
 Than Launcelet du Lake. 
 Tho dyghte they hem all to armes, 
 Wyth swerdes and wyth gysarmes, 
 
 As werre schold awake ; 
 Knytes and squyeres, 
 Lepte on her destrerys. 
 
 For har lordes sake. 
 
 Upon an hell well hyghe 
 
 Lybeaus ther they syghe, 11 00 
 
 He rod pas be pas ; 
 
68 Ancient English 
 
 To,hym they gon crye, 
 Traytour, thou schalt dye, 
 
 For thy wykkede trespas. 
 Syr Lybeaus ayen beheld 
 How fulfelde was the feld. 
 
 So greet peple ther was ; 
 He seyde, Mayde Elene, 
 For our rach, y wene, 
 
 Us Cometh a karfull cas. Llio 
 
 I rede that ye drawe 
 Into the wode schawe, 
 
 Your heddes for to hyde ; 
 For I am swyde fawe, 
 Thaugh ych schulde be slawe, 
 
 Bykere of hem y woll abyde. 
 Into the wode they rode. 
 And Lybeaus theroute abothe, 
 
 As aunterous knyght yn pryde ; 
 Wyth bowe, and wyth arblaste, 1 1 lo 
 
 To hym they schote faste, 
 
 And made hym woundes wyde. 
 
 Lybeaus stede ran, 
 
 And bar doun hors and man. 
 
 For nothyng nolde he' spare ; 
 That peple seyde than, 
 Thys ys fend Satan, 
 
 That mankende wyll forfarc. 
 For wham Lybeaus arafte 
 After hys ferste drawghte 1130 
 
 He slep for evermare : 
 But sone he was besette 
 As theer ys yn a nette 
 
 Wyth grymly wondes sare. 
 
 Twelf knyghtes all prest 
 He saw come yn the forest. 
 In armes cler and bryght ; 
 
 * Original reading : htr. 
 
Metrical Romances. 69 
 
 Al day they hadde yrest. 
 And thought* yn that forest, 
 
 To sle Lybeaus the knyght. 1 140 
 
 Of sute were all twelfe. 
 That on was the lord hymselfe, 
 
 In ryme to rede aryght ; 
 They smyte to hym all at ones. 
 And thoghte to breke hys bones, 
 
 And felle hym doun yn fyght. 
 
 Tho myghte men her dynge. 
 And swordes lowde rynge. 
 
 Among hem all yn fere ; 
 So harde they gonne thrynge, 1 150 
 
 The sparkes gonne out sprynge, 
 
 Fram scheld and helmes clerc. 
 Lybeaus slough of hem thre. 
 And the fourth gonne to fle. 
 
 And thorst naght nyghhe hym nere, 
 The lord dwellede yn that schour, 
 And hys sones four, 
 
 To selle har lyves there. 
 
 Ther roune tho rappes ryve. 
 
 He ayens hem fyve, 1 1 60 
 
 Faught as he were wod ; 
 Neygh doun they gonne hym dryve, 
 As water doth of clyve, 
 
 Of hym ran the blode. 
 As he was neygh yspylt, 
 Hys swerd brast yn the hylt, 
 
 Tho was he mad of mode ; 
 The lord a strok hym sette. 
 Through t helm and basnette. 
 
 That yn the scheld hyt stode. 1 170 
 
 Aswogh he fell adoun. 
 And hys hynder arsoun. 
 As man that was mate ; 
 
 * Original reading : though. f Original reading : though. 
 
7° Ancient English 
 
 Hys fomen were well boun. 
 To perce hys acketoun, 
 
 Gypell, mayl, and plate. 
 As he gan sore smerte, ' 
 Up he pullede hys herte. 
 
 And keverede of hys state ; 
 An ex he hente all boun, 1180 
 
 At hys hynder arsoun, 
 
 Allmest hym thoughte to late. 
 
 Than besterede he hym as a knygth, 
 Thre Btedes heoddes doun ryght, 
 
 He smot at strokes thre ; 
 The lord saw that syght. 
 And on hys courser lyght, 
 
 Awey he gan to fle, 
 Lybeaus no lenger abode. 
 But aftyr hym he rode, 1 1 90 
 
 And unther a chesteyn tre, 
 Ther he hadde hym quelthe. 
 But the lord hym yelde, 
 
 At hys wylle to be. 
 
 And be scrtayne extente 
 Tresour, lond, and rente, 
 
 Castell, halle, and bour, 
 Lybeaus therto consente 
 In forward * that he wente 
 
 To the kyng Artour, 1 200 
 
 And seye. Lord of renoun. 
 As overcome and prysoun 
 
 Y am to thyne honour. 
 The lord grauntede to hys wylle 
 Bothe lowthe and stylle. 
 
 And ledde hym to hys bour. 
 
 Anoon that mayde Elene, 
 
 Wyth gentyll men fyftene 
 
 Was fet to that castell 
 
 -j- Original reading : soward. 
 
Metrical Romances. 7 1 
 
 Sche and the dwerke bydene 12 10 
 
 Tolde dedes kene 
 
 Of Lybeaus how hyt fell. 
 Swyche presentes four 
 He hadde ysent kyng Artour, 
 
 That he wan fayr and well ; 
 The lord was glad and blythe, 
 And thonketh fele syde 
 
 God and seynt Mychell. 
 
 Now rcste we her awhyle 
 
 Of syr Otes de Lyle, 1220 
 
 And telle we other tales. 
 Lybeaus rod many a myle, 
 Among aventurus fyle. 
 
 In Yrland and yn Wales. 
 Hyt befell yn the month of June, 
 Whan the fenell hangeth yn toun, 
 
 Grene yn semely sales, 
 Thys somerys day ys long, 
 Mery ys the fowles song. 
 
 As * notes of the nyghtyngales. 1230 
 
 That tyme Lybeaus com ryde, 
 Be a ryver syde, 
 
 And saw a greet cyt^, 
 Wyth palys prowd yn pryde. 
 And castelles heygh and wyde, 
 
 Wyth gates greet plenti. 
 He axede what hyt hyght. 
 The mayde seyde anon ryght, 
 
 Syr, y telle hyt the. 
 Men clepeth hyt Yledor,t 1240 
 
 Her hath be fyghtynge more 
 
 Thanne owher yn any countre. 
 
 For a lady of pry s, 
 Wyth rode rede as rose on ryse, 
 Thys countre ys yn dowte ; 
 
 * Original reading : A. 
 
 \ L'isle Sar, the Isle of Gold, or Golden Island ; but whether designed for French 
 or English seems rather doubtful. 
 
72 Ancient English 
 
 A geaunt hatte Maugys, 
 Nowher hys per ther nys, 
 
 Her hatha be leyde abowte. 
 He ys blak as ony pych. 
 Nower ther ys non swych, 1250 
 
 Of dede sterne and stoute ; 
 Ho that passeth the bregge 
 Hys armes he mot legge. 
 
 And to the geaunt alowte. 
 
 Tho seyde Lybeaus, Mayde hende, 
 Schold y wonde to wende. 
 
 For hys dentys ille ; 
 Yf god me grace sende, 
 Er thys day come to ende, 
 
 Wyth fyght y schall hym spylle. 1 260 
 
 I have yseyn grate okes 
 Falle for wyndes strokes. 
 
 The smale han stonde stylle ; 
 They y be yyng and lyte, 
 To hym yyt wyll y smytc 
 
 Do god all hys wylle. 
 
 They ryden forth all thre 
 Toward that fayre cyt^, 
 
 Me clepeth hyt Ylledore ; 
 Maugeys thay gonna ys^ 1270 
 
 Upon the bregge of tre, 
 
 Bold as wylde bore. 
 Hys scheld as blakke as pych, 
 Lyngell armes trappur was swych, 
 
 Thra mammattes therynne wore. 
 Of gold gaylyth ygeld, 
 A schafta an honda he held. 
 
 And 00 scheld hym before. 
 
 He cryde to hym yn despyte. 
 
 Say, thou felaw yn whyt, 1 280 
 
 Tell me what art thou. 
 Torn a hom agayn all so tyt, 
 For thy owane profyt, 
 
 Yef thou lovede thy prow. 
 
Metrical Romances. 73 
 
 Lybeaus seyde anoon ryght, 
 Artour made me knyght, 
 
 To hym i made a vow. 
 That y ne schulde never turne bak, 
 Therfore, thoji devell yn blak, 
 
 Make the redy now. 1290 
 
 Syr Lybeaus and Maugys, 
 On stedes prowde of prys, 
 
 Togedere ryde full ryght ; 
 Bothe lardes and ladyes 
 Leyn out yn pomet touris * 
 
 To se that sely fyght ; 
 And prayde wyth good wyll, 
 Bothe lode and styll, 
 
 Helpe Lybeaus the knyght ; 
 And that fyle geaunt, i 300 
 
 That levede yn Termagaunt,t 
 
 That day to deye yn fyght. 
 
 * Original reading : tours. The poet certainly intended a rhyme, if ever so bad. 
 ■j- So, afterward, in the King of Tars : — 
 
 " Of Tirmagaunt and of Mahoun" 
 
 " Tirmagaunt," says Dr. Percy, " is the name given in the old romances to the 
 god of the Saracens ! in which he is constantly linked with Mahound or Mahomet." 
 (i, 76.) "This word," he adds, "is derived by the very learned editor of Junius 
 from the Anglo-Saxon Tyr, very, and Mazan, mighty. As this word had so 
 sublime a derivation, and was so applicable to the true god, how shall we account 
 for its being so degraded .' Perhaps Tyr-mazan or Termagant had been a name 
 originally given to some Saxon idol, before our ancestors were converted to 
 Christianity ; or had been the peculiar attribute of one of their false deities ; and 
 therefore the first christian missionaries rejected it as profane and improper to be 
 implied [c. applied] to the true god. Afterwards, when the irruptions of the 
 Saracens into Europe, and the Crusades into the east, had brought them acquainted 
 with a new species of unbelievers, our ignorant ancestors, who thought all that 
 did not receive the christian law were necessarily pagans and idolaters, supposed the 
 Mahometan creed was in all respects the same with that of their pagan forefathers, 
 and therefore made no scruple to give the ancient name of Termagant to the god of 
 the Saracens: just in the same manner as they afterwards used the name of 
 Sarazat to express any kind of pagan idolater." (77.) "I cannot," says he, 
 afterward, "conclude this short memoir, without observing that the French 
 romancers, who had borrowed the word Termagant from us, and applied it as we in 
 their old romances, corrupted it into Tervagaunte. This may be added to tlic 
 other proofs adduced in these volumes of the great intercourse that formerly sub- 
 
 iC 
 
74 Ancient English 
 
 Har scheldes brooke asonder, 
 Har dentes ferd as donder, 
 
 The peces gonne out sprynge ; 
 Ech man hadde wonder 
 That Lybeaus ne hadde ybe unther, 
 
 At the ferst gynnyng. 
 
 sisted between the old minstrels and legendary writers of both nations, and that they 
 mutually borrowed each others romances " (78.) In a note, at p. 379, he, likewise 
 observes that **the old French romancers, who had corrupted Termagant into 
 Tervagant, couple it with the name of Mahomet as constantly as ours. As 
 Termagant," he says, "is evidently of Anglo-Saxon derivation, and can only be 
 explained from the elements of that language, its being corrupted by the old French 
 romancers proves that they borrowed some things from ours." In another note 
 (in., xxii), in order to support his hypothesis, that " The stories of king Arthur and 
 his round table, of Guy and Bevis, with some others, were probably the invention of 
 English minstrels," he has the following words: "That the French romancers 
 borrowed some things from the English, appears from the word Termagant, which 
 they took up from our minstrels, and corrupted into Tervagaunte. . . . What is 
 singular, Chaucer, who was most conversant with the French poets, adopts their 
 corruption of this word. — See Tyrwhitt's Edit." 
 
 In this pursuit the venerable prelate (though he might not be one at that time) 
 has suffered himself to be misled by an ignis fatuus. All that he has said, about 
 Tyr-Mazan, or Termagant being the name of a Saxon deity, remains to be proved. 
 The learned editor of Junius imposed upon him : the combination Tyr Mazan, is 
 not to be found even in his own Saxon dictionary, neither, according to that 
 authority, is Tyr, very j and maza, not mazan, is mighty : and, after all, this is 
 only in effect the ter-magnus of former etymologists. As little foundation is there 
 for supposing that the French romancers not only borrowed the word Termagant from 
 the English, but, likewise, corrupted it into Tervagaunte : which is contrary to 
 every authenticated fact. The English romancers not only servilely followed the 
 French, but even themselves corrupted the word Tervagante, after they had got it. 
 This corruption, however, must have taken place before the time of Chaucer, who, 
 notwithstanding what Dr. P. has^ asserted, even in Mr. Tyrwhitt's edition, gives the 
 English corruption, and not the French original : — 
 
 " He sayde. Child, by Termagaunt." 
 
 {II. 235 ; and see IV., 318.) 
 
 A much greater mistake than the present editor made, by inadvertently quoting 
 his own book, by which the worthy doctor (forgetful of his own hallucinations) was 
 pleased to say "all confidence [had^been destroyed." 
 
 But, in the King of Tars, a romance, in all probability, anterior to Chaucer's time, 
 as preserved in the Edinburgh MS. we find — 
 
 "Be Mahoun and Tervagant ; " 
 and had we more copies of that age, we should, doubtless, recover many other 
 instances of the word ; as, in fact, there may be in that identical MS. 
 
 With respect to the etymology of the original name Tervagante (for it is 
 perfectly ridiculous to seek for that of the corruption Termagant), it may, 
 possibly, be referred to the two Latin words ler and vagans, i.e., the action of going 
 
Metrical Romances. 75 
 
 Thanne drough dey swordes bothe, 
 
 As men that weren wrothe, 1310 
 
 And gonne togedere dynge ; 
 Lybeaus smot Maugys so. 
 That hys scheld fell hym fro. 
 
 And yn to the feld gan flynge. 
 
 Maugys was queynte and quede, 
 And smot of the stedes heed, 
 That all fell out the brayne ; 
 
 or turning thrice round, a very ancient ceremony in magical incantation. Thus 
 Medea, in Ovid's Metamorphosis (L. 7, V. 189) : — 
 
 ** Ter se convertit ; ter sumtis Jlumine crimm 
 Irroraitit aquls ; terms uiulatibus ora 
 Solvit." 
 " She turned her thrice about, as oft she thr ew 
 On her pale tresses the nocturnal dew. 
 Then yelling thrice, &c." 
 yago, indeed, in pure Latin, means to wander, but, in barbarous times, the classical 
 sense of a word was not much regarded : of this, however, one cannot be confident. 
 Tir, or Tyr, in Saxon, and the ancient Cimbric, was the name of Odin, or some 
 other northern deity, and, metonymically, any great leader, prince, lord, or emperor ; 
 and is occasionally applied, in composition, to God, the Creator. See Lye's 
 Dictionary, and Hickes's Thesaurus. But, admitting Terniagante or Termagant to have 
 some connection with the Saxon or Cimbric term, it will, by no means, prove that 
 we did not obtain the word from the French, whose language, every one knows, was 
 as much a dialect of the ancient Cimbric as that of the Anglo-Saxon. The word 
 three had some mystic signification with the ancients : — 
 
 " Tergerftinamque Hecaten, tria virginis ora Diana.'* Via. JE. IV. 
 
 Termagant, therefore, has been corrupted, by the English, from Tervagant, precisely 
 in the same manner as we have corrupted cormorant from corvorant, and malmsey from 
 mal-vesie. The Italian poets have it Trivigante, Thus Ariosto : — 
 
 " Bestemmiando Macone, e Trivigante." 
 It, likewise, occurs in the Gierusalemme liherata of Tasso. They, too, doubtless, were 
 indebted for it to the French. 
 
 «*, King Herod, in the Coventry Corpus Christ! play, constantly swears by 
 Mahomet, but never by Termagant. So in fo, 173 : 
 
 " Now be Mahound, my god of grace." 
 One of the soldiers, who are set to watch the sepulchre, calls him "Seynt 
 Mahownde." 
 
 "Tervagant, I'un des dieux pr/tendus des Mahometans^' is a character in "Lejeu de S. 
 Nicolas," a very ancient French mystery (see Fabliaux ou contes, II., 131) J but no such 
 personage, or even name, occurs in any English mystery or morality now extant, or 
 of which we have any account ; though, from the following passage, in Bale's Acts of 
 English Votaries, it would seem that some such character had, in his time, been 
 known to the stage : — 
 
 " Grennyng upon her, lyke Termagauntes in a play." 
 
J 6 Ancient English 
 
 The stede fell doune deed, 
 Lybeaus nothyng ne sede, 
 
 Bot start hym up agayn. 13*0 
 
 An ax he hente boun. 
 That heng at hys arsoun. 
 
 And smot a strok of mayn ; 
 Thorugh Maugys stedes swyre, 
 And forkarf bon and lyre, 
 
 That heed fell yn the playn. 
 
 Afote they gonne to fyghte. 
 As men that wer of myghte, 
 
 The strokes betwene hem two 
 Descryve no man ne myghte, i33° 
 
 For they wer unsyght. 
 
 And eyder othres fo. 
 Fram the our of pryme* 
 Tyll hyt was evesong tyme 
 
 To fyghte they wer well thro ; 
 Syr Lybeaus durstede sore. 
 And seyde Maugys thyn ore,t 
 
 To drynke lette me go : 
 
 * It was customary with the Christian kings, knights, and soldiers, to cease 
 fighting at evensong or vespers, observed at six o'clock. Thus, in the ancient 
 Catalan romance of Tirant lo Blanch, Barcelona, 1497, folio, it is said, '' E continuant 
 toitemps la batailla era ja quasi hora de vespres, Gfc, So, likewise, in the Histoire dt 
 Gmrin de Montgla-ve, Lyons, 1585, 8vo, "Sf maintint la guerre jusques k I'heure de 
 vespres." In the old Ballad of The Hunts of Cheviat : — 
 
 " When even-song bell was rang, the battell was nat half done ;" 
 and it became sinful, of course, to fight any longer. The same circumstance a thus 
 noticed in the more modern ballad of Che-vy-Chase : — 
 
 " The fight did last, from break of day. 
 Till setting of the sun ; 
 For, when they rung the evening-bell. 
 The battle scarce was done." 
 Dr. Percy has confounded the -vesper hell with the curfew. The reason of this 
 temporary cessation of bloodshed, proceeded from respect to the Virgin Mary ; for, 
 at this hour, the angelical salutation was sung ; whence it was sometimes called the 
 jive Maria bell. It is still customary, upon the Spanish stage, for the actors, in the 
 midst of the grossest and most indecent buffoonery, to fall down on their knees, and 
 pull out their beads, at the sound of this bell. 
 
 t Thus, in Chaucer's Millere's Tale, V, 3724 : 
 
 " Lemman, thy grace, and, swete bird, thyn ore." 
 In the learned editor's note on this passage he explains ore to signify "grace, 
 
Metrical Romances. 77 
 
 And y schall graunte the 
 
 What bone thou byddest me, 134° 
 
 Swych cas yef that be tyt ; 
 Greet schame hyt wold be 
 For durste a knyght to sle, 
 
 And no mare profyt. 
 Maugys grauntede hys wyll. 
 To drynke all hys fyll, 
 
 Wythout any despyte ; 
 As Lybeaus ley on the bank, 
 And thorugh hes helm he dratik, 
 
 Maugys a strok hym smyt. i350' 
 
 That yn the ryuer he fell, 
 Hys armes echadell. 
 
 Was weet and evell aJyght ; 
 But up he start snell. 
 And seyde, Be seynt Mychell, 
 
 Now am y two so lyght. 
 What wendest thou, fendes fere ? 
 Uncrystenede that were 
 
 Tyll y saw the wyth syght ; 
 I schall for thys baptyse 1 360 
 
 Ryght well quyte thy servyse, 
 
 Thorugh grace of god almight. 
 
 fatmtr, protectim : " and cites, as 'an additional instance, in support of that explana- 
 tion, the present text, " where," he says, "thync ore must be understood to mean 
 ivitA thy favour, as in this passage of Chaucer." 
 
 The same phrase occurs frequently in Syr Bevyi, though not precisely, at least, in 
 every instance, with Mr. Tyrwhitt's signification : — 
 
 " She saide, Bevys, lemman, tiyn ore. 
 
 Thou art wounded wonder sore." 
 " Mercy, saide Bradmodde, tiyn ore." 
 " There is no man, by goddys ore." 
 *' Then sayd Bevys, for Crystes ore." 
 
 Thus, likewise, Robert of Gloucester, P. 39 : — 
 
 " The maister fel adoun on Icne, and criede mercy and ore'' 
 Again : — 
 
 " Therfore the erl of Kent he bysought mile and ore,'' 
 
 Again, in The erl of Toulous, V. 583 :— 
 
 " Y aske mercy for goddy* ore." 
 
78 Ancient English 
 
 Thanne newe fyght they began, 
 Eyther tyll other ran, 
 
 And delede denies strong ; 
 Many a gentylman, 
 And ladyes whyt as swan, 
 
 For Lybeaus handes wrong. 
 For Maugys yn the feld 
 Forkarf Lybeaus scheld, 1370 
 
 Wyth dente of armes long ; 
 Thanne Lybeaus ran away, 
 Ther that Maugys scheld lay. 
 
 And up he gan hyt fonge. 
 
 And ran agayn to hym 
 Wyth strokes stout and grym, 
 
 Togydere they gonne asayle, 
 Besyde that ryver brym 
 Tyll hyt darkede dym 
 
 Betwene hem was batayle. 1380 
 
 Lybeaus was werrour wyght. 
 And smot a strok of myght, 
 
 Thorugh gypell, plate, and mayll ; 
 Forthwyth the scholder bon 
 Maugys arm fyll of anoon. 
 
 Into the feld saunz fayle. 
 
 The geaunt thys gan se 
 Islawe that he schulde be. 
 
 And flaugh wyth myght and mayn. 
 Lybeaus after gan fle, 1390 
 
 Wyth Sterne strokes thre, 
 
 And smot hys back atweyn. 
 The geaunt ther beleveth 
 Lybeaus smot of hys heved. 
 
 And of the batayle was fayn. 
 He wente ynto the toun 
 Wyth fayr processioun. 
 
 That folk com hym agayn. 
 
 A lady, whyt as flowr. 
 
 That hyghte la dame c^ amove, 1400 
 
 A feng hym fayr and well ; 
 
Metrical Romances. ng 
 
 And thankede hys honour. 
 That he was her socour, 
 
 Ayens the geaunt so fell. 
 To chambre sche gan hym lede, 
 And dede of all hys wede. 
 
 And clodede hym yn pell ; 
 And proferede hym wyth word 
 For to be her lord, 
 
 In cyte and castell. i^io 
 
 Lybeaus grauntede yn haste. 
 And love to her he caste. 
 
 For sche was bryght and schcne ; 
 Alas he ne hadde ybe chast ! 
 For aftyrward at last, 
 
 Sche dede hym greet tene. 
 For twelf monthe and more 
 Lybeaus dwellede thore. 
 
 And mayde Elene ; 
 That never he myghte out-breke, 14.20 
 
 For to help a wreke 
 
 Of Synadowne the queue. 
 
 For thys fayr lady* 
 Kowthe moch of sorcery. 
 
 More then other wycches fyfe ; 
 Sche made hym melodye. 
 Of all manere menstracy. 
 
 That man myghte descry ve. 
 Whan he seygh her face, 
 Hym thought he was i+3° 
 
 In Paradys alyve ; 
 Wyth fantasme, and fayrye, 
 Thus sche blerede hys yye. 
 
 That evell mot sche thryve. 
 
 Tyll hyt fell on a day. 
 He mette Elene that may, 
 Wythinne the castell tour ; 
 
 * This lady bears a strong resemblance to the no less magical than beauteous 
 fairies, the Calypso of Homer, and the Alcina of Ariosto ; both of whom deluded 
 and detained Ulysses and Rogero in the manner la dame d'ammr here treats 
 Lybeaus. 
 
8o Ancient English 
 
 To hym sche gan to say, 
 
 Syr knyght, thou art fals of fay, 
 
 Ayens the king Artour. 1-4.^0 
 
 For love of a woman. 
 That of sorcery kan. 
 
 Thou doost greet dyshonour ; 
 The lady of Synadowne 
 Longe lyght in prisoun. 
 
 And that is greet dolour. 
 
 Lybeaus herd her so speke, 
 
 Hym thought hys hert wold breke, 
 
 For sorow and for schame ; 
 And at a posterne unsteke i^Cq 
 
 Lybeaus gan out-breke 
 
 Fram that gentyll dame ; 
 And tok wyth hym hys stede, 
 Hys scheld, and hys ryche wtfde, 
 
 And ryde forth all ysame ; 
 Her styward stout and sterne. 
 He made hys squyere, 
 
 Gyfflet was hys name : 
 
 And ryde, as fast as they may, 
 
 Forth yn her jornay, 1^60 
 
 On stedes bay and browne ; 
 Upon the thyrdde thay 
 They saw a cyte gay. 
 
 Me clepeth hyt Synadowne. 
 Wyth castell heygh and wyde. 
 And palys prowd yn pryde, 
 
 Werk of fayr fassoune ; 
 But Lybeaus desconus 
 He hadde wonder of an uus 
 
 That he saw do yn toune. 14.70 
 
 For gore, and fen, and full wast, 
 That was out ykast, 
 
 Togydere they gaderede y wys ; 
 Lybeaus axede yn hast. 
 Tell me, mayde chast. 
 
 What amounteth thys. 
 
Metrical Romances. 
 
 They taketh all that hore. 
 That er was out ybore. 
 
 Me thyngeth they don a mys. 
 Thanne seyde mayde Elene, 1480 
 
 Syr, wythouten wene, 
 
 I schalle the telle how yt ys. 
 
 No knyght for nessche ne hard. 
 They he schold be forfard, 
 
 Ne geteth her non ostell, 
 For love of a styward, 
 Men clepeth hym syr Lambard, 
 
 Constable of thys castell. 
 Ryde to that est gate. 
 And axede thyn in therate, 149° 
 
 Botha fayre and well ; 
 And er he bete thy nede, 
 Justes he wyll the bede, 
 
 By god and seynt Mychell. 
 
 And yf he beryth the doun, 
 Hys trompys schuU be boun, 
 
 Har hemes for to blowe ; 
 And thorughout Synadowne, 
 Bothe maydenes, and garssoun, 
 
 Fowyll fen schull on the throwe : 1500 
 
 And thanne to thy lyves ende, 
 In whett stede that thow wende, 
 
 For coward werst thou knowe. 
 And thus may kyng Artour 
 Lese hys honour, 
 
 Thorugh thy dede slowe. 
 
 Than seyde Lybeaus al so tyt, 
 That wer a greet dyspyt. 
 
 For any man alyve ; 
 To tho Artour profy t, i 5 1 o 
 
 And make the lady quyt. 
 
 To hym y wyll dryve. 
 Syr Gyfflette, make the yare ! — 
 Thyder we wyllyth fare, 
 
 Hastely and blyve. 
 
82 Ancient English 
 
 They ryde thy ryght gate, 
 Even to the castell-yate, 
 Wyth fayre schaftes fyfe. 
 
 And at the fayr castell 
 
 They axede her ostell, 1520 
 
 For aunterous knyghtes ; 
 The porter, fayre and well, 
 Lette ham yn al so snell. 
 
 And axede anon ryghtes : 
 Ho ys yowre governowre ? 
 They seyde, Kyng Artour, 
 
 That ys man most of myghtes ; 
 And welle of curtesye. 
 And flowr of chyvalrye, 
 
 To felle hys son yn fyghtes. IS 3° 
 
 The porter profytable. 
 To hys lord the constable 
 
 Thus hys tale tolde, 
 And wythoute fable, 
 Syr, of the rownde table 
 
 Beth come knyghtes bolde ; 
 That beth armed sure. 
 In rose-reed armure, 
 
 Wyth thre lyouns of gold ; 
 Lambard therof was fayn, 1 5^0 
 
 And swore oth certayn. 
 
 Wyth hem juste he wolde. 
 
 And bad hem make yare. 
 Into the feld to fare, 
 
 Wythoute the castell gate ; 
 The porter nold naght spare. 
 As grehound doth the hare, 
 
 To ham he ran full wate 
 And seyde anon ryghtes. 
 Ye aunterous knyghtes, icjo 
 
 For nothyng ye ne late ; 
 Loketh your scheldes be strong. 
 Your schaftes good and long. 
 
 Your saket and faunplate. 
 
Metrical Romances. 83 
 
 And rydeth ynto the feld, 
 
 My lord, wyth sper and scheld, 
 
 Cometh wyth yow to play. 
 Lybeaus spak wordes bold, 
 That ys a tale ytold, 
 
 Well lykynge unto my pay. 1560 
 
 Into the felde they ryde, 
 And hovede and abyde, 
 
 As best broght to bay ; 
 The lord of sente hys stede, 
 Hys scheld, hys ryche wede, 
 
 Hys atyre was stout and gay. 
 
 Hys scheld was of gold fyn. 
 The bores heddes therinne, 
 
 As blak as brond ybrent ; 
 The bordur of ermyne, 1570 
 
 Nas non so queynte of gyn, 
 
 From Karlell ynto Kent. 
 And of the same paynture 
 Was lyngell and trappure 
 
 Iwroght well fayre and gent ; 
 Hys schaft was strong wythall, 
 Theron a stef coronall, 
 
 To dely doghty dent. 
 
 And whane that stout styward, 
 
 That hyghte syr Lambard, 1 5 80 
 
 Was armede at all ryghtes. 
 He rood to the feld ward, 
 Lyght as a lybard, 
 
 Ther hym abyde the knyghtes. 
 He smote his schaft yn grate, 
 Almost hym thought* to late, 
 
 Whanne he seygh hem wyth syghte ; 
 Lybeaus rood to hym thare, 
 Wyth a schaft all square. 
 
 As man most of myghte. i 590 
 
 * Original reading : Though. 
 
84 Ancient English 
 
 Eyther fmot other yn the scheld, 
 The peces fell ynto the feld, 
 
 Of her schaftes schene ; 
 All tho that hyt beheld, 
 Ech man to other teld, 
 
 The yonge knyghte ys kene. 
 Lambard was aschamed sore, 
 So nas he never yn feld before. 
 
 To wyte and naght to wene ; 
 He cryde, Do come a stranger schaft, 1600 
 
 Yyf Artours knyght kan craft. 
 
 Now hyt schall be sene. 
 
 Tho he tok a schaft rounde, 
 Wyth cornall scharp ygrounde, 
 
 And ryde be ryght resoun ; 
 Ayder provede yn that stounde 
 To yeve other dedys wounde, 
 
 Wyth fell herte as lyoun. 
 Lambard smot Lybeaus so 
 That hys scheld fell hym fro, 1610 
 
 Into the feld adoun ; 
 So harde he hym hytte, 
 Unnethe that he myghte sytte 
 
 Upryght yn hys arsoun. 
 
 Hys schaft brak wyth gret power, 
 Lybeaus hytte Lambard yn the launcer 
 
 Of hys helm so bryght ; 
 That pysane, aventayle, and gorgere. 
 Fell ynto the felld fer, 
 
 And syr Lambard upryght 1620 
 
 Sat, and rokkede yn hys sadell. 
 As chyld doth yn a kradell, 
 
 Wythoute mannys myght ; 
 Ech man tok other be the hod, 
 And gonne for to herye good 
 
 Borgays, baroun, and knyght. 
 
 Ayen to ryde Lambard thought, 
 Another helm hym was brought. 
 And a schaft unmete : 
 
Metrical Romances. 85 
 
 Whan they togydere mette, 1630 
 
 Ayder yn other scheld hytte, 
 
 Strokes grymly greete. 
 Syr Lambardys schaft to-brast. 
 And syr Lybeaus sat so faste 
 
 In sadelys as they setten, 
 That the styward, syr Lambard, 
 Fell of hys stede bakward. 
 
 So harde they two metten. 
 
 Syr Lambard was aschamed sore. 
 
 Than seyde Lybeaus, Wyltow more? 1640 
 
 And he answerede. Nay ; 
 Never seythe y was ybore, 
 Ne sygh ycome her before 
 
 So redy a knyght to my pay. 
 A thoghth y have myn herte wythinne, 
 That thou art com of Gawenys kynne. 
 
 That ys so stout and gay ; 
 Yef thou schalt for my lady fyght. 
 Well come to me, syr, thou knyght, 
 
 In love and sykyr fay. 1650 
 
 Lybeaus answerede sykyrly, 
 Feyghte y schall for a lady. 
 
 Be heste of kyng Artour ; 
 But y not wherfore ne why, 
 Ne who her doth swych vylany, 
 
 Ne what ys her dolour. 
 A mayde, that ys her messengere. 
 And a dwerke me brought her. 
 
 Her to do socour ; 
 The constable seyde. Well founde 1660 
 
 Noble knyght of the table rounde, 
 
 Iblessed be seynt Savour. 
 
 Anon that mayde Elene 
 Was fette wyth knyghtes ten. 
 Before syr Lambard ; 
 
86 Ancient English 
 
 Sche and the dwerk y mene 
 Tolde seven dedes kene, 
 
 That he dede dydyrward ; 
 And how that syr Lybeaus 
 Faught wyth fele schrewys, 1 670 
 
 And for no deth ne spared ; 
 Lambard was glad and blythe, 
 And thonkede fele syde, 
 
 God and seynt Edward. 
 
 Anon, wyth mylde chere. 
 They sete to the sopere, 
 
 Wyth moch gle and game ; 
 Lambard and Lybeaus, yn fere, 
 Of aventurs that ther wer, 
 
 Talkede bothe yn same. 1680 
 
 Than seyde Lybeaus, syr Constable, 
 Tell me wythout fable. 
 
 What ys the knyghtes name. 
 That halt so yn prisoune 
 The lady of Synadowne, 
 
 That ys so gentyll a dame. 
 
 " Nay, syr, knyght ys he non, 
 Be god and be seynt Jon, 
 
 That dorst away her lede ; 
 Two clerkes beth her fon, 1690 
 
 Well fals of flessch and bon. 
 
 That haveth ydo thys dede. 
 Hyt beth men of maystrye, 
 Clerkes of nygremansye, 
 
 Hare artes for to rede ; 
 Syr Maboun hatte that other. 
 And syr Irayn hys brother. 
 
 For wham we beth yn drede. 
 
 Thys Yrayn and Maboun 
 
 Have imade of our toun 1700 
 
 A palys queynte of gynne ; 
 Ther nys knyght ne baroun, 
 Wyth herte harde as lyoun. 
 
 That thorste come therinne. 
 
Metrical Romances. 87 
 
 Thys* ys be nygremauncye, 
 Ymaketh of fayrye. 
 
 No man may hyt wynne ; 
 Therinne ys yn prysoun. 
 The lady of Synadowne, 
 
 Ys come of knyghtes kynne. 1710 
 
 Ofte we hereth hyr crye, 
 But her to se wyth eye 
 
 Therto have we no myghte ; 
 They doth her turmentrye, 
 And all vylanye, 
 
 Be dayes and be nyght. 
 Thys Maboun and Irayn 
 Haveth swor deth certayn, 
 
 To dethe they wyll her dyghte ; 
 But sche graunte hym tylle 1720 
 
 To do Mabounnys wylle, 
 
 And yeve hem all her ryght. 
 
 Of alle thys dukdom feyr 
 That ylke ladyys eyr ; 
 
 And come of knghtes kenne ; 
 Sche ys meke and boneyre, 
 Therfore we beth in despeyre, 
 
 That sche be dyght to synne. 
 Than seyde Lybeaus desconus. 
 Be the grace of Jhesus, '73° 
 
 That lady y schall wynne 
 Of Maboun and Yrayn ; 
 Schame i schall, certayne. 
 
 Hem bothe wythout and wythinne. 
 
 Tho toke they har reste, 
 In lykynge as hem leste, 
 In the castell that nyght ; 
 
 * Original reading : hys. 
 
Ancient English 
 
 A morow Lybeaus hym prest 
 In armes that wer best 
 
 And fressch he was to fyght. '740 
 
 Lambard ladde hym forth well whatc, 
 And broghte hym at the castell gate, 
 
 And fond hyt open ryght, 
 No ferther ne dorste hym brynge, 
 For soth wythout lesynge, 
 
 Erll, baroun, ne knyght. 
 
 But turnede hom agayn, 
 Save syr Gylet hys swayn 
 
 Wolde wyth hym ryde ; 
 He swor his oth serteyn, 1750 
 
 He wold se hare brayn, 
 
 Yf they hym wold abyde. 
 To the castell he rod 
 And hovede and abod, 
 
 To Jhesu bad and tolde, 
 To sende hym tydynge glad 
 Of ham that longe had 
 
 That lady yn prysoun holde. 
 
 Syr Lybeaus knyght certeys 
 
 Rod ynto the palys, 1760 
 
 And at the halle alyghte ; 
 Trompes, schalmuses, 
 He seygh be for the hyegh deys 
 
 Stonde yn hys syghte. 
 Amydde the halle flore 
 A fere stark and store 
 
 Was lyght and brende bryght, 
 Nere the dore he yede, 
 And ladde yn hys stede, 
 
 That wont was helpe hym yn fyght. '77° 
 
 Lybeauus inner gan pace. 
 To se ech a place, 
 
 The hales yn the halle, 
 Of mayne mor ne laffe 
 Ne sawe he body ne face 
 
 But menstrales yclodeth yn palle. 
 
Metrical Romances. 89 
 
 Wyth harp, fydele, and rote, 
 Orgenes, and mery note, 
 
 Well mery they maden alle ; 
 Wyth sytole, and sawtrye, 1780 
 
 So moch melodye 
 
 Was never wythinne walle. 
 
 Before ech menstrale stod 
 A torche fayre and good, 
 
 Brennynge * fayre and bryght ; 
 Inner more he yode,t 
 To wyte wyth egre mode 
 
 Ho scholde wyth hym fyghte. 
 He yede ynto the corneres, 
 And lokede on the pylers, 1790 
 
 That selcouth wer of syghte, 
 Of jasper, and of fyn crystall, 
 Swych was pylers and wall, 
 
 No rychere be nc myghte. 
 
 The thores wer of bras, 
 The wyndowes wer of glas, 
 
 Florysseth wyth imagerye. 
 The halle ypaynted was. 
 No rychere never ther nas. 
 
 That he hadde seye wyth eye. 1 800 
 
 He sette hym an that deys. 
 The menstrales wer yn pes, 
 
 That were go good and trye, 
 The torches that brende bryght 
 Quenchede anon ryght. 
 
 The menstrales wer aweye. 
 
 Dores and wyndowes alle 
 Beten yn the halle. 
 
 As hyt wer voys of thunder ; 
 The stones of the walle 1810 
 
 Over hym gon falle. 
 
 That thought hym mych wonther. 
 
 -* Original reading : Brennyge. 
 f Original reading : Yede. 
 
go Ancient English 
 
 That deys began to schake, 
 The erthe began to quake, 
 
 As he satte hym under ; 
 The rof abone unlek, 
 And the faunsere ek. 
 
 As hyt wolde asonder. 
 
 As he sat thus dysmayde, 
 
 And held hymself betrayde, 1820 
 
 Stedes herde he naye. 
 Thanne was he bette ypayd, 
 And to hymself he sayd, 
 
 Yet y hope to playe. 
 He lokede ynto a feld, 
 Ther he sawe, wyth sper and scheld, 
 
 Come ryde knytes tweye ; 
 Of purpur Inde armure 
 Was lyngell and trappure, 
 
 Wyth gold garlandys gay. 1*^30 
 
 That on rod ynto the halle, 
 And ther he gan to kalle, 
 
 Syr knyght aunterous, 
 Swych cas ther ys befalle, 
 Thaugh thou be proud yn palle, 
 
 Fyghte thou most wyth us. 
 Queynte thou art of gynne, 
 Yf thou that lady wynne. 
 
 That ys so precyous. 
 Tho seyde Lybeaus, anon ryght, 1840 
 
 All fressch i am to fyght, 
 
 Thorugh help of swete Jhesus. 
 
 Lybeaus wyth goodwyll 
 Into hys sadell gan skyll, 
 
 And a launce yn hond he hent ; 
 Quyk he rod hem tyll. 
 In feld hys son to fell, 
 
 Therto was hys talent. 
 Togedere whan they mette 
 Upon har scheldes they sette 1850 
 
 Strokes of thoughty dent : 
 
Metrical Romances. 91 
 
 Mabounys schaft to-brast, 
 Tho was he sore agast, 
 
 And held hymself yschent. 
 
 And wyth that strok feloun 
 Lybeaus bar hym adoun 
 
 Over hys horses tayle, 
 For hys hynder arsoun 
 To-brak and fyll adoun 
 
 In that feld saunz fayle. 1 860 
 
 And neygh he hadde hym sclayn, 
 Wyth that come ryde Yrayn 
 
 Wyth helm, hauberke, and mayle, 
 All fressch he was to fyght, 
 He thought wyth mayn and myght 
 
 Syr Lybeaus for to asayle. 
 
 Lybeaus of hym was war. 
 And sper to hym he bar. 
 
 And lette hys brother stylle ; 
 Swych dent he smot dar 1870 
 
 That hys hauberke to-tar, 
 
 And that lykede Yrayn ylle. 
 Har launces they brak atwo, 
 Swerdes they through out tho, 
 
 Wyth herte grym and grylle, 
 And gonne for to fyghte, 
 Eyder prevede hys myghte 
 
 Other for to spylle. 
 
 As they togedere hewe 
 
 Maboun the mare schrewe 1880 
 
 In feld up arcs ; 
 He sawe and well knew 
 That Yrayn smot dentys fewe, 
 
 Therfore hym grym agros. 
 To Yrayn he ran ryght. 
 To helpe sle yn fyght 
 
 Lybeaus that was of noble los ; 
 But Lybeaus faught wyth hem bothe, 
 Thaugh they wer never so wrothe. 
 
 And kepte hymself yn clos. 1890 
 
92 Ancient English 
 
 Whan Yrayn saw Maboun, 
 He smot a strok feloun 
 
 To syr Lybeaus wyth yre, 
 Before [hys] forther arsoun 
 Als sket he karf adoun 
 
 Of Lybeaus stede swyre. 
 But Lybeaus was werrour slegh, 
 And smot of hys theygh, 
 
 Fell, and bone, and lyre ; 
 Tho halp hym naght hys armys 1900 
 
 Hys chauntement, ne hys charmys, 
 Adoun fell that sory syre. 
 
 Lybeaus adoun lyght, 
 Afote for to fyghte, 
 
 Maboun and he yn fere ; 
 Swych strokes they gon dyghte, 
 That sparkes sprong out bryght 
 
 From scheld andhelmes clere. 
 As they togedere sette, 
 Har swerdes togedere mette, 1910 
 
 As ye may lythe and lere ; 
 Maboun, that more schrewe, 
 To-karf that sworde of Lybeawe, 
 
 A twynne quyt and skere. 
 
 Lybeaus was sore aschamed, 
 An yn hys herte agramede, 
 
 For he hadde ylore hys sworde ; 
 And hys stede was lamed. 
 And he schulde be defamed. 
 
 To Artour kyng, hys lord. 1920 
 
 To Yrayn tho he ran, 
 Hys sword he drough out than. 
 
 Was scharp of egge, and ord ; 
 To Maboun he ran ryght, 
 Well faste he gan to fyght, 
 
 Of love ther nas no word. 
 
 But ever faught Maboun, 
 As a wod lyoun, 
 
 Lybeaus for the flo ; 
 
Metrical Romances. 93 
 
 But Lybeaus karf adoun 193° 
 
 Hys scheld wyth hys fachoun, 
 
 That he tok Yrayn fro. 
 Wythout more tale teld, 
 The left arm wyth the scheld 
 
 Well evene he smot of the ; 
 The spak Maboun hym tylle, 
 Of thyne dentys ylle, 
 
 Gentyll knyght, now ho. 
 
 And i woU yelde me, 
 
 In trewthe and lewte, 194° 
 
 At thyn owene wylle ; 
 And that lady fre. 
 That ys yn my pouste, 
 
 I wyll the take tylle. 
 For thorugh that swordes dent 
 Myn hond y have yschent, 
 
 That femyn wyll me spylle ; 
 I femynede hem bothe, 
 Sertayn wythoute nothe, 
 
 In feld our fon to fylle. 1950 
 
 Seyde Lybeaus, Be my thryste, 
 I nell naght of thy yefte, 
 
 All thys world to wynnc ; 
 But ley on strokes swyfte. 
 Our on schall other lyste 
 
 That hedde of be the skynne. 
 Maboun and Lybeaus 
 Paste togedere hewes. 
 
 And stente for no synne ; 
 Lybeaus was more of myght, i960 
 
 And karf hys helm bryght, 
 
 And hys hedde atwynne. 
 
 Tho Maboun was ysclayn. 
 He ran ther he lefte Yrayn, 
 
 Wyth fachoun yn hys fest ; 
 For to cleve hys brayn, 
 Therof he was certayn, 
 
 And trewly was hys tryst. 
 
94 Ancient English 
 
 And whanne he com thore, 
 
 Away he was ybore, '97° 
 
 Whyderward he nyste ; 
 He softe hym for the nones, 
 Wyde yn alle the wones. 
 
 To fyghte more hym lyste. 
 
 And whanne he ne fond hym noght, 
 He held hymself be caught, 
 
 And gan to syke sare. 
 And seyde yn word and thought 
 Thys wyll be sore abought 
 
 That he ys thus fram me yfare. 1980 
 
 On kne hym sette that gentyll knyght 
 And prayde to Marie bryght, 
 
 Kevere hym of hys care ; 
 As he prayde thus yn halle 
 Out of the ston walle 
 
 A wyndow doun fyll thare ; 
 
 And a greet wonder wythall 
 In hys herte gan fall. 
 
 As he sat and beheld ; 
 A warm come out a pace, 199° 
 
 Wyth a womannes face. 
 
 Was yong and nothyng eld. 
 Hyr body and hyr wyngys 
 Schynede yn all thynges. 
 
 As gold gaylyche ygyld were. 
 Her tayle was myche unmete, 
 Hyr pawes grymly grete. 
 
 As ye may lythe and lere.* 
 
 Lybeaus began to swete, 
 
 Ther he satte yn hys sete, 2000 
 
 Maad as he were, 
 So sore hym gan agryse. 
 That he ne myghte aryse, 
 
 Thaugh hyt hadde bene all afere.t 
 
 * This is the only stanza in which the poet has neglected the recurrent rhymes ; 
 in other respects it appears to be perfect, 
 •j- Conjectural emendation : a fere. 
 
Metrical Romances. 95 
 
 And er Lybeaus hyt wyste 
 
 The warm wyth mouth hym kyste, 
 
 All aboute hys swyre ; 
 And after that kyssinge 
 The warmys tayle and wynge 
 
 Anon hyt fell fro hyre. zoio 
 
 So fayr yn all thyng 
 Woman wythout lesyng 
 
 Ne saw he never er tho, 
 But sche stod before hym naked, 
 And all her body quaked, 
 
 Therfore was Lybeaus wo. 
 Sche seyde, Knyght gentyle, 
 God yelde the dy whyle, 
 
 That my son thou woldest slo ? 
 Thou hast yslawe nouthe 2020 
 
 Two clerkes kouthe, 
 
 To deeth they wold me have ydo. 
 
 Be est, north, and sowthe. 
 Be wordes of har mouthe, 
 
 Well many man kouth they schend ; 
 Wyth hare chauntement. 
 To warm me hadde they ywent. 
 
 In wo to welde and wende. 
 Tyll y hadde kyste Gaweyn, 
 Eyther som other knyght sertayn, 2030 
 
 That wer of hys kende ; 
 And for thou savyst my lyf, 
 Casteles ten and fyf 
 
 I yeve the wythouten ende : 
 
 And y to be thy wyf, 
 Ay wythouten stryf, 
 
 Yyf hyt ys Artours wylle. 
 Lybeaus was glad and blythe, 
 And lepte to horse swythe. 
 
 And lefte that ladye stylle. 2040 
 
 But ever he dradde Yrayn, 
 For he was naght yslayn, 
 
 Wyth speche he wold hym spylle ; 
 
96 Ancient English 
 
 To the castell gate he rode, 
 And hovede and abod, 
 
 To Jhesu he bad wyth good wylle. 
 
 Sende hym tydyngys glad, 
 Of ham that long hadde 
 
 That lady do vylanye ; 
 Lybeaus Lambard tolde, 2050 
 
 And othre knyghtes bolde. 
 
 How hym there gan agye ; 
 And how Maboun was yslayn. 
 And wondede was Yrayn, 
 
 Thorugh grace of seynt Marie ; 
 And how that lady bryght 
 To a warm was dyght, 
 
 Thorugh kraft of chaunterye. 
 
 And how thrugh kus of a knyght 
 
 Woman sche was aplyght, 2060 
 
 And a semyly creature ; 
 But sche stod me before. 
 Naked as sche was ybore, 
 
 And seyde, now y am sure 
 My fomen beth yslayn, 
 Maboun and Yrayn, 
 
 In pes now may we dure. 
 Whan syr Lybeaus, knyght of prys, 
 Hadde ytolde the styward, y wys. 
 
 All thys aventure, 2070 
 
 A robe of purpure bys, 
 Ypelvryd wyth puryd grys, 
 
 Anon he lette forth brynge ; 
 Calles and keverchefs ryche 
 He sent her pryvylyche. 
 
 Anon wythout dwellynge ; 
 And whan sche was redy dyght, 
 Sche rod with mayn and myght, 
 
 And wyth her another kyng ; 
 And all the peple of the toune, 2080 
 
 Wyth a fayr processyoun, 
 
 Thyder they gonne thryiige. 
 
Metrical Romances. 97 
 
 Whan the lady was come to towne, 
 Of gold and ryche stones a krowne, 
 
 Upon her hedde was sette ; 
 And weren glad and blythe, 
 And thonkede god fele syde. 
 
 That her bales bette. 
 All the lordes of dignyt^, 
 Dede her omage and feawt^, 2090 
 
 As hyt was due dette ; 
 Thus Lybeaus, wys and wyght, 
 Wan that ylke lady bryght. 
 
 Out of the develes nette. 
 
 SevS nyght they made sojour, 
 Wyth Lambard yn the tour, 
 
 And all the peple yn same ; 
 And tho wente they wyth honour 
 To the noble kyng Artour, 
 
 Wyth moche gle and game : 2100 
 
 And thonkede godes myghtes, 
 Artour and hys knyghtes, 
 
 That he ne hadde no schame ; 
 Artour yaf her also blyve 
 Lybeaus to be hys wyfe, 
 
 That was so gentyll a dame. 
 
 The joy of that bredale 
 Nys not told yn tale, 
 
 Ne rekened yn no gest ; 
 Barons and lordynges fale 2110 
 
 Come to that semyly sale, 
 
 And ladyes well honeste. 
 Ther was ryche servyse. 
 Of all that men kouth devyse. 
 
 To lest and ek to mest ; 
 The menstrales, yn bour and halle, 
 Hadde ryche yftes wythalle. 
 
 And they that weryn unwrest. 
 
98 Jncient English Romances. 
 
 Fourty dayes they dwellde,* 
 
 And har feste helde, 2120 
 
 Wyth Artour the kyng ; 
 As the Frenssch tale teld, 
 Artour, wyth knyghtes held. 
 
 At horn gan hem brynge. 
 Fele yer they levede yn same, 
 Wyth moche gle and game, 
 
 Lybeaus and that swete thyng. 
 Jhesu Cryst our savyour, 
 And hys moder, that swete flour, 
 
 Graunte us alle good endynge. 2130 
 
 '^ Original reading : divellede.