Caxton's Blanchardyn and Eglantine, c. 1489 : from Lord Spencer's unique imperfect copy, completed by the original French and the second English version of 1595

¶ The xliiij. chapiter conteyneth in hit self how blanchardin made hym self redy with his folke and nauye for to socoure and helpe his felawe Sadoyne / that kynge Alymodes brought prysoner to Cassydonye / [to Cassydonye = auec luy]

Whan blanchardyn dyde see that to hym was Impossyble to haue ayen by raenson his true felaw sadoyne, he was right sory therfor, and none was there so grete frende wyth hym that coude recomforte hym. sore pyteously he byganne to wyshe hym ayen, sayng in this wyse, 'wo me, sadoyne, my veray true felawe! for my sake ye haue lefte your fader, your royalme, landes, lordshippes, and kynrede, and your frendes, and haue exposed the body of you and of your men to the socoure and help of me / & nowe for myne owne cause ye be prysoner, ought not I wel to enforce my self that ye were delyuered from the euyll where ye be in at this tyme for the grete loue that ye haue vnto me /

¶ Certes I ought to do it / and yf god be playsed, I shall acquyte my self therof' /

¶ The pouere folke of prusse, that is to wyte, the barons and knyghtes that Sadoyne had brought wyth hym / were sore dyscomfyted and full of sorowe for thabsence of their maystre, that they sawe was brought prysonner of the paynems / But blanchardyn ryght humbly dyde recomforte hem þe best wyse that he coude / after that the gayne was

parted emonge them that therof were worthy / Blanchardyn gaff commaundement, that alle the shippes and other vesselles that were al aboute Tourmaday, sholde be made redy and garnysshed wyth vytaylles suche as apparteyned / and that his wylle was vttyrly sette for to goo to gyue socoure and helpe vnto his felawe Sadoyne /

¶ The fayr yong lady, the proude pucell in amours, was alredy come ayenst her true louer, Blanchardyn. So may ye well ynough thynke and knowe for certayn that teerys were there shed and wepte of her parte in grete habondaunce [Wanting in the French.] expand_less /

¶ Whan the two mouthes met kyssynge eche other, the noble mayden was well recomforted of all her euylles past. But ouer moche dysplaysed her to see her feyth-full frende Blanchardyn that wolde goo ayen out of the lande / They cam wythin the cyte, where they were receyued wyth grete feste and gladnesse. And syth, after the owre of mydnyght was past / Blanchardin cam to the paleys, where he fonde his loue, the proude pucelle in amours, that sorowed right sore for the departyng of her frende blanchardyn. But the best that to hym was possyble he dyde recomforte / her, promyttyng to her, that alssone as he godely myght, he sholde retourne ayen toward her /

¶ Ther wythin was a knyght wyth her in whom she had a grete confydence, whiche had be noryshed in her paleys from the first tyme of his yonge age wyth the kynge of Tourmaday her fader, that recomended hym at the owre of his deth vnto his doughter /

¶ A full fayr knyght he was, but he was descended of a lowe kynrede, for his fader & his moder had be seruauntes wyth-in the place, the whiche knyght by his subtyl engyne and gode seruyse that he made, came to be soo

pryue famylier wyth the kynge, the proude pucelle in amours fader, that he added and gaffe more feyth and truste, [the whiche knyght by his subtyl engyne and gode seruyse that he made, came to be soo pryue famylier wyth the kynge, the proude pucelle in amours fader, that he added and gaffe more feyth and truste = Le quel fut par son subtil engin et seruice quil faisoit que le Roy de tourmaday pere de la pucelle auoit plus de foy] and more credence vnto hym & his wordes, than he dyde in eny other knyght or baron of his royalme, wherfore atte his decesse he had him moche recomended / But men saye in a comyn langage that 'neuer noo wodewoll [bruhier] dyde brede a sperhawke' /

¶ I saye this for the knyght of whom I doo make here mencyon, whiche had to his name Subyon / for he was soo proude and so hawten, that aduyse was to hym for the grete auctoryte that he was ynne, that non sholde haue compared wyth hym /

¶ And therfore I saye that 'of churles, bothe man and wyff, can departe noo goode fruyte.'

¶ And it is Impossyble that yf eny grete lord, prynce / or baron gyue auctoryte or lene his eeres for to herken to a churles wordes / But that he shall be at last deceyued by hym, wythout more happe be [But that he shall be at last deceyued by hym, wythout more happe be = merueilles est si en la par fin nen est deceu] /

¶ for men sayen that 'of a kerle may nought come but poyson and fylth, that maketh the place to stynke where he haunteth ynne' [that maketh the place to stynke where he haunteth ynne' = que en bausme le lieu ou Il repaire] / as the same [the same = Icellui] Subyon dyde / Blanchardyn, seeng this knyght to be in grete auctoryte in the court of the proude pucelle in amours, and well honoured and gretely set by of all thoffycers of the places / He dyde chuse the sayde knyght subyon, wythout eny counseyll of other, for to playse the better the pucelle therby, and betoke vnto hym the kepynge of the proude pucelle in amours noble personne, wyth the charge and gouernaunce of an hundred knyghtes, that sholde wayte vpon hym, and made hym seneshall of all the royalme of Tourmaday, & rewler of all the lande, wherof the noble mayden was right glad, that knewe not what vnto her sholde befall therby afterward, as herafter ye shall mowe vnderstande playnly /