The history of English poetry: from the close of the eleventh to the commencement of the eighteenth century. To which are prefixed, two dissertations. ... By Thomas Warton, ... [pt.1]

SECT. I.

THE Saxon language spoken in England, is distin|guished by three several epochs, and may therefore be divided into three dialects. The first of these is that which the Saxons used, from their entrance into this island, till the irruption of the Danes, for the space of three hundred and thirty years a 1.1. This has been called the British Saxon: and no monument of it remains, except a small me|trical fragment of the genuine Caedmon, inserted in Alfred's version of the Venerable Bede's ecclesiastical history b 1.2. The

second is the Danish Saxon, which prevailed from the Danish to the Norman invasion c 1.3; and of which many con|siderable specimens, both in versed 1.4 and prose, are still pre|served: particularly, two literal versions of the four gos|pels e 1.5, and the spurious Caedmon's beautiful poetical para|phrase of the Book of Genesis f 1.6, and the prophet Daniel. The third may be properly styled the Norman Saxon; which began about the time of the Norman accession, and con|tinued beyond the reign of Henry the second g 1.7.

The last of these three dialects, with which these Annals of English Poetry commence, formed a language extremely bar|barous, irregular, and intractable; and consequently pro|mises no very striking specimens in any species of composi|tion. Its substance was the Danish Saxon, adulterated with French. The Saxon indeed, a language subsisting on uni|form principles, and polished by poets and theologists, how|ever corrupted by the Danes, had much perspicuity, strength, and harmony: but the French imported by the Conqueror and his people, was a confused jargon of Teutonic, Gaulish, and vitiated Latin. In this fluctuating state of our national speech, the French predominated. Even before the conquest the Saxon language began to fall into contempt, and the French, or Frankish, to be substituted in its stead: a circum|stance, which at once facilitated and foretold the Norman accession. In the year 652, it was the common practice of

the Anglo-Saxons, to send their youth to the monasteries of France for education h 1.8: and not only the language, but the manners of the French, were esteemed the most polite accom|plishments i 1.9. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the resort of Normans to the English court was so frequent, that the affectation of imitating the Frankish customs became almost universal: and even the lower class of people were ambitious of catching the Frankish idiom. It was no difficult task for the Norman lords to banish that language, of which the na|tives began to be absurdly ashamed. The new invaders com|manded the laws to be administered in French k 1.10. Many char|ters of monasteries were forged in Latin by the Saxon monks, for the present security of their possessions, in consequence of that aversion which the Normans professed to the Saxon tongue l 1.11. Even children at school were forbidden to read in their native language, and instructed in a knowledge of the Norman only m 1.12. In the mean time we should have some re|gard to the general and political state of the nation. The natives were so universally reduced to the lowest condition of neglect and indigence, that the English name became a term of reproach: and several generations elapsed, before one family of Saxon pedigree was raised to any distinguished honours, or could so much as attain the rank of baronage n 1.13. Among

other instances of that absolute and voluntary submission; with which our Saxon ancestors received a foreign yoke, it appears that they suffered their hand-writing to fall into dis|credit and disuse o 1.14; which by degrees became so difficult and obsolete, that few beside the oldest men could under|stand the characters p 1.15. In the year 1095, Wolstan, bishop of Worcester, was deposed by the arbitra••y Normans: it was objected against him, that he was

"a superannuated English idiot, who could not speak French q 1.16."

It is true, that in some of the monasteries, particularly at Croyland and Tavis|tocke, founded by Saxon princes, there were regular precep|tors in the Saxon language: but this institution was suffered to remain after the conquest, as a matter only of interest and necessity. The religious could not otherwise have un|derstood their original charters. William's successor, Henry the first, gave an instrument of confirmation to William archbishop of Canterbury, which was written in the Saxon language and letters r 1.17. Yet this is almost a single example. That monarch's motive was perhaps political: and he seems to have practised this expedient with a view of obliging his queen, who was of Saxon lineage; or with a design of flat|tering his English subjects, and of securing his title already strengthened by a Saxon match, in consequence of so specious and popular an artifice. It was a common and indeed a very natural practice, for the transcribers of Saxon books, to change the Saxon orthography for the Norman, and to sub|stitute in the place of the original Saxon, Norman words and

phrases. A remarkable instance of this liberty, which some|times perplexes and misleads the critics in Anglo-Saxon litera|ture, appears in a voluminous collection of Saxon homilies, preserved in the Bodleian library, and written about the time of Henry the second s 1.18. It was with the Saxon characters, as with the signature of the cross in public deeds; which were changed into the Norman mode of seals and subscrip|tions t 1.19. The Saxon was probably spoken in the country, yet not without various adulterations from the French: the courtly language was French, yet perhaps with some vestiges of the vernacular Saxon. But the nobles, in the reign of Henry the second, constantly sent their children into France, le••t they should contract habits of barbarism in their speech, which could not have been avoided in an English education u 1.20. Robert Holcot, a learned Dominican friar, confesses, that in the beginning of the reign of Edward the third, there was no institution of children in the old English: he complains, that they first learned the French, and from the French the Latin language. This he observes to have been a practice introduced by the Conqueror, and to have remained ever since w 1.21. There is a curious passage relating to this subject in Trevisa's translation of Hygden's Polychronicon * 1.22.

"Chil|dren in scole, agenst the usage and manir of all other na|tions, beeth compelled for to leve hire owne langage, and for to construe hir lessons and hire thynges in Frenche; and so they haveth sethe Normans came first into Engelond. Also gentilmen children beeth taught to speke Frensche, from the tyme that they bith rokked in here cradell, and kunneth speke and play with a childes broche: and uplondissche

y 1.23 men will likne himself to gentylmen, and fondethz 1.24 with greet besynesse for to speke Frensche to be told of. This maner was moche used to for first deth a 1.25, and is sith ••ome dele changed. For John Cornewaile a maister of grammer, changed the lore in grammer scole, and con|struction of Frensche into Englische: and Richard Pen|criche lernede the manere techynge of him as other men of Pencriche. So that now, the yere of oure Lorde a thousand thre hundred and four score and five, and of the seconde Kyng Ri|chard after the conquest nyne, and [in] alle the grammere scoles of Engelond children lereth Frensche and construeth, and lerneth an Englische, &c."

About the same time, or rather before, the students of our universities, were ordered to converse in French or Latin b 1.26. The latter was much af|fected by the Normans. All the Norman accompts were in Latin. The plan of the great royal revenue-rolls, now called the pipe-rolls, were of their construction, and in that language. But from the declension of the barons, and pre|valence of the commons, most of whom were of English ancestry, the native language of England gradually gained ground: till at length the interest of the commons ••o far succeeded with Edward the third, that an act of parliament was passed, appointing all pleas and proceedings of law to be carried on in English c 1.27: although the same statute decrees,

in the true Norman spirit, that all such pleas and proceedings should be enrolled in Latin d 1.28. Yet this change did not restore either the Saxon alphabet or language. It abolished a token of subjection and disgrace: and in some degree, contributed to prevent further French innovations in the language then used, which yet remained in a compound state, and retained a considerable mixture of foreign phraseo|logy. In the mean time, it must be remembered, that this corruption of the Saxon was not only owing to the admis|sion of new words, occasioned by the new alliance, but to changes of its own forms and terminations, arising from reasons which we cannot investigate or explain e 1.29.

Among the manuscripts of Digby in the Bodleian library at Oxford, we find a religious or moral Ode, consisting of one hundred and ninety-one stanzas, which the learned Hickes places just after the conquest f 1.30: but as it contains few Norman terms, I am inclined to think it of rather higher an|tiquity. In deference however to so great an authority, I am obliged to mention it here; and especially as it exhibits a regular lyric strophe of four lines, the second and fourth of which rhyme together. Although these four lines may be perhaps resolved into two Alexandrines; a measure concern|ing which more will be said hereafter, and of which it will be sufficient to remark at present, that it appears to have been used very early. For I cannot recollect any strophes of this sort in the elder Runic or Saxon poetry; nor in any of the old Frankish poems, particularly of Otfrid, a monk of Weissenburgh, who turned the evangelical history into Frankish verse about the ninth century, and has left several

hymns in that language f 1.31, of Stricker who celebrated the atchievements of Charlemagne g 1.32, and of the anonymous au|thor of the metrical life of Anno, archbishop of Cologn. The following stanza is a specimen h 1.33.

i 1.34 Sende God biforen him man The while he may to hevene, For betere is on elmesse biforen Thanne ben after sevene k 1.35.

That is,

"Let a man send his good works before him to heaven while he can: for one alms-giving before death is of more value than seven afterwards."

The verses perhaps might have been thus written as two Alexandrines.

Send God biforen him man the while he may to hevene, For betere is on almesse biforen, than ben after sevene l 1.36.

Yet alternate rhyming, applied without regularity, and as rhymes accidentally presented themselves, was not uncommon in our early poetry, as will appear from other examples.

Hickes has printed a satire on the monastic profession; which clearly exemplifies the Saxon adulterated by the Nor|man, and was evidently written soon after the conquest, at

least before the reign of Henry the second. The poet begins with describing the land of indolence or luxury.

Fur in see, bi west Spaynge, Is a lond ihote Cokaygne: Ther nis lond under hevenriche a 1.37 Of wel of godnis hit iliche. Thoy paradis bi mirib 1.38 and brigt Cokaygn is of fairir sigt. What is ther in paradis Bot grass, and flure, and greneris? Thoy ther be joy c 1.39, and gret dute d 1.40, Ther nis met, bot frute. Ther nis halle, bure e 1.41, no bench; But watir manis thurst to quench, &c.

In the following lines there is a vein of satirical imagina|tion and some talent at description. The luxury of the monks is represented under the idea of a monastery construc|ted of various kinds of delicious and costly viands.

Ther is a wel fair abbei, Of white monkes and of grei, Ther beth boures and halles: All of pasteus beth the walles, Of fleis of fisse, and a rich met, The likefullist that man mai et. Fluren cakes beth the schinglesf 1.42 alle, Of church, cloister, bours, and halle. The pinnesg 1.43 beth fat podinges Rich met to princes and to kinges.— Ther is a cloyster fair and ligt, Brod and lang of sembli sigt.

The pilers of that cloister alle ••eth iturned of cristale, With harlas and capital Of grene jaspe and red coral. In the praer is a tree Swithe likeful for to se, The rote is gingeur and galingale, The siouns beth al sed wale. Trie maces beth the flure, The rind canel of swete odure: The frute gilofre of gode smakke, Of cucubes ther nis no lakke.— There beth iiii willish 1.44 in the abbei Of tracle and halwei, Of baume and eke piement i 1.45, Ever ernendk 1.46 to rigt rent l 1.47; Of thai stremis al the molde, Stonis pretiusem 1.48 and golde, Ther is saphir, and uniune, Carbuncle and astiune, Smaragde, lugre, and prassiune, Beril, onyx, toposiune, Amethiste and crisolite, Calcedun and epetite n 1.49. Ther beth birddes mani and fale Throstill, thruisse, and nigtingale, Chalandre, and wodwale, And othir briddes without tale, That stinteth never bi her migt Miri to sing dai and nigt. [Nonnulla desunt.]

Yite I do yow mo to witte, The gees irostid on the spitte, Fleey to that abbai, god hit wot, And gredith o 1.50, gees al hote al hote, &c.

Our author then makes a pertinent transition to a convent of nuns; which he supposes to be very commodiously situa|ted at no great distance, and in the same fortunate region of indolence, ease, and affluence.

An other abbai is ther bi For soth a gret nunnerie; Up a river of swet milk Whar is plente grete of silk. When the summeris dai is hote, The yung nunnes takith a bote And doth ham forth in that river Both with oris and with stere: Whan hi beth fur from the abbei Hi makith him nakid for to plei, And leith dune in to the brimme And doth him sleilich for to swimme: The yung monkes that hi seeth Hi doth ham up and forth hi fleeth, And comith to the nunnes anon, And euch monk him takith on, And snellichp 1.51 berith forth har prei To the mochill grei abbei q 1.52, And techith the nonnes an oreisun With jambleusr 1.53 up and dun s 1.54.

This poem was designed to be sung at public festivals t 1.55: a practice, of which many instances occur in this work; and concerning which it may be sufficient to remark at present, that a JOCULATOR or bard, was an officer belonging to the court of William the Conqueror u 1.56.

Another Norman Saxon poem cited by the same indus|trious antiquary, is entitled THE LIFE OF SAINT MARGARET. The structure of its versification considerably differs from that in the last-mentioned piece, and is like the French Alexandrines. But I am of opinion, that a pause, or divi|sion, was intended in the middle of every verse: and in this respect, its versification resembles also that of ALBION'S ENG|LAND, or Drayton's POLYOLBION, which was a species very com|mon about the reign of queen Elisabeth w 1.57. The rhymes are also continued to every fourth line. It appears to have been written about the time of the crusades. It begins thus.

Olde antx 1.58 yonge I priety 1.59 ou, our folies for to lete, Thinketh on god that yef ou wite, our sunnes to bete. Here I mai tellen ou, wit wordes faire and swete, The viez 1.60 of one maiden was hotena 1.61 Margarete. Hire fader was a patriac, as ic ou tellen may, In Auntioge wif echesb 1.62 I in the false lay, Deve godesc 1.63 ant dombe, he servid nit and day, So deden mony othere that singeth welaway.

Theodosius was is nome, on Criste ne levede he noutt, He levede on the false godes, that weren with honden wroutt. Tho that child sculde cristine ben it com well in thoutt, Ebed wend 1.64 it were ibore, to deth it were ibroutt, &c.

In the sequel, Olibrius, lord of Antioch, who is called a Saracen, falls in love with Margaret: but she being a chris|tian, and a candidate for canonization, rejects his sollicita|tions and is thrown into prison.

Meiden Margarete one nitt in prison lai Ho com biforn Olibrius on that other dai. Meiden Margarete, lef up upon my lay, And Ihu that thou levest on, thou do him al awey. Lef on me ant be my wife, ful wel the mai spede. Auntioge and Asie scaltou han to mede: Ciculautone 1.65 and purpel pall scaltou have to wede: With all the metes of my lond ful vel I scal the f 1.66 fede.

This piece was printed by Hickes from a manuscript in Trinity college library at Cambridge. It seems to belong to the manuscript metrical LIVES OF THE SAINTS g 1.67, which form a very considerable volume, and were probably translated or para|phrased from Latin or French prose into English rhyme before

the year 1200 h 1.68. We are sure that they were written after the year 1169, as they contain the LIFE of Saint Tho|mas of Becket i 1.69. In the Bodleian library are three manu|script copies of these LIVES OF THE SAINTS k 1.70, in which the LIFE of Saint Margaret constantly occurs; but it is not always exactly the same with this printed by Hickes. And on the whole, the Bodleian Lives seem inferior in point of anti|quity. I will here give some extracts never yet printed.

From the LIFE of Saint Swithin.

l 1.71 Seint Swythan the confessour was her of Engelonde, Bisyde Wynchestre he was ibore, as ich undirstonde: Bi the kynges dei Egbert this goode was ibore, That tho was kyng of Engelonde, and somedele eke bifore; The eihtethe he was that com aftur Kinewolfe the kynge, That seynt Berin dude to cristendome in Engelonde furst brynge: Seynt Austen hedde bifore to cristendom i brouht Athelbryt the goode kynge as al the londe nouht. Al setthem 1.72 hyt was that seynt Berin her bi west wende, And tornede the kynge Kinewolfe as vr lord grace sende: So that Egbert was kyng tho that Swythan was bore The eighth was Kinewolfe that so long was bifore, &c. Seynt Swythan his bushopricke to al goodnesse drough The towne also of Wynchestre he amended inough, Ffor he lette the stronge bruge withoute the toune arere And fond therto lym and ston and the workmen that ther were n 1.73.

From the LIFE of Saint Wolstan.

Seynt Wolston bysscop of Wirceter was then in Ingelonde, Swithe holyman was all his lyf as ich onderstonde: The while he was a yonge childe good lyf hi ladde ynow, Whenne other children orne play toward cherche hi drow. Seint Edward was tho vr kyng, that now in hevene is, And the bisscoppe of Wircester Brytthege is hette I wis, &c. Bisscop hym made the holi man seynt Edward vre kynge And undirfonge his dignite, and tok hym cros and ringe.

His bushopreke he wu••t wel, and eke his priorie, And forcede him to serve wel god and Seinte Marie. Ffour ʒer he hedde bisscop ibeo and not folliche fyve Tho seynt Edward the holi kyng went out of this lyve. To gret reuge to al Engelonde, so welaway the stounde, Ffor strong men that come sithen and broughte Engelonde to grounde. Harald was sithen kynge with tresun, allas! The crowne he bare of England which while hit was. As William bastard that was tho duyk of Normaundye Thouhte to winne Englonde thorusg strength and felonye: He lette hym greith foulke inouh and gret power with him nom, With gret strengthe in the see he him dude and to Engelonde com: He lette ordayne his ost wel and his baner up arerede, And destruyed all that he fond and that londe sore aferde. Harald hereof tell kynge of Engelonde He let garke fast his oste agen hym for to stonde: His baronage of Engelonde redi was ful sone The kyng to helpe and ••k•• himself as riht was to done. The warre was then in Engelonde dolefull and stronge inouh And heore either of othures men al to grounde slouh: The Normans and this Englisch men deiy of batayle nom There as the abbeye is of the batayle a day togedre com, To grounde thei smiit and slowe also, as god yaf the cas, William Bastard was above and Harald bi n••othe was o 1.74.

From the LIFE of Saint Christopher.

p 1.75 Seynt Cristofre was a Sarazin in the londe of Canaan, In no stud bi him daye mi fond non so strong a man:

Ffour and twenti feete he was longe, and thikk and brod inouh, Such a mon but he weore stronge methinketh hit weore wouh: A la cuntre where he was for him wolde fleo, Therfore hym ythoughte that no man ageynst him sculde beo. He seide he wolde with no man beo but with on that were, Hext lord of all men and undir hym non othir were.

Afterwards he is taken into the service of a king.

—Cristofre hym served longe; The kynge loved melodye much of fitheleq 1.76 and of songe: So that his jogeler on a dai biforen him gon to pleye faste, And in a tyme he nemped in his song the devil atte laste: Anon so the kynge that I herde he blesed him anon, &c. r 1.77••

From the LIFE of Saint Patrick••

Seyn Pateryk com thoru godes grace to preche in Irelonde To teche men ther ryt believe Jehu Cryste to understonde: So ful of wormes that londe he founde that no man ni myghte gon, In som stede for worms that he nas wenemyd anon; Seynt Pateryk bade our lorde Cryst that the londe delyvered were, Of thilke foul wormis that none ne com there s 1.78.

From the LIFE of Saint Thomas of Becket.

Ther was Gilbert Thomas fadir name the trewe man and gode He loved God and holi cherche setthe he witte ondirstode t 1.79. The cros to the holi cherche in his ʒouthe he nom, . . . myd on Rychard that was his mon to Jerlem com,

Ther hy dede here pylgrimage in holi stedes fa••te So that among Sarazyns hy wer nom at laste, &c. u 1.80

This legend of Saint Thomas of Becket is exactly in the style of all the others; and as Becket was martyred in the latter part of the reign of Henry the second from historical evidence, and as, from various internal marks, the language of these legends cannot be older than the twelfth century, I think we may fairly pronounce the LIVES OF THE SAINTS to have been written about the reign of Richard the first x 1.81.

These metrical narratives of christian faith and perse|verance seem to have been chiefly composed for the pious amusement, and perhaps edification, of the monks in their cloisters. The sumptuous volume of religious poems which I have mentioned above y 1.82, was undoubtedly chained in the cloister, or church, of some capital monastery. It is not improbable that the novices were exercised in reciting por|tions from these pieces. In the British Museumz 1.83 there is a set of legendary tales in rhyme, which appear to have been ••olemnly pronounced by the priest to the people on sundays and holidays. This sort of poetry a 1.84 was also sung to the

harp by the minstrels on sundays, instead of the romantic subjects usual at public entertainments b 1.85.

In that part of Vernon's manuscript intitled SOULEHELE, we have a translation of the Old and New Testament into verse; which I believe to have been made before the year 1200. The reader will observe the fondness of our ancestors for the Alexandrine: at least, I find the lines arranged in that measure.

Oure ladi and h••re sustur stoden under the roode, And seint John and Marie Magdaleyn with wel sori moode: Vr ladi bi heold hire swete son i brouht in gret pyne, Ffor monnes gultes nouthen her and nothing for myne. Marie weop wel sore and bitter teres leet, The teres fullen uppon the ston doun at hire feet. Alas, my son, for serwe wel off seide heo Nabbe iche bote the one that hongust on the treo; So ful icham of serwe, as any wommon may beo, That ischal my deore child in all this pyne iseo: How schal I sone deore, how hast i yougt liven withouten the, Nusti nevere of serwe nought sone, what seyst you me? Then spake Jhesus wordus gode to his modur dere, Ther he heng uppon the roode here I the take a fere, That trewliche schal serve ye, thin own cosin Jon, The while that you alyve beo among all thi fon: Ich the hote Jon, he seide, you wite hire both day and niht That the Gywes hire fon ne don hire non un riht. Seint John in the stude vr ladi in to the temple nom God to serven he hire dude sone so he thider come, Hole and seeke heo duden good that hes founden thore Heo hire serveden to hond and foot, the lass and eke the more.

The pore folke feire heo fedde there, heo sege that hit was neode And the seke heo brougte to bedde and met and drinke gon heom beode. Wy at heore mihte yong and olde hire loveden bothe syke and fer As hit was riht for alle and summe to hire servise hedden mester. Jon hire was a trew feer, and nolde nougt from hire go, He lokid hire as his ladi deore and what heo wolde hit was i do. Now blowith this newe fruyt that lat bi gon to springe, That to his kuynd heritage monkunne schal bringe, This new fruyt of whom I speke is vre cristendome, That late was on erthe isow and latir furth hit com, So hard and luthur was the lond of whom hit scholde springe That wel unnethe eny rote men mougte theron bring, God hi was the gardener,c 1.86 &c.

In the archiepiscopal library at Lambeth, among other Nor|man-Saxon homilies in prose, there is a homily or exhortation on the Lord's prayer in verse: which, as it was evidently transcribed rather before the reign of Richard the first, we may place with some degree of certainty before the year 1185.

Vre feder that in hevene is That is al sothfull I wis. Weo moten to theos weordes iseon That to live and to saule gode beon. That weo beon swa his sunes iborene That he beo feder and we him icorene. That we don alle his ibeden And his wille for to reden, &c. Lauerde God we biddeth thus Mid edmode heorte gif hit us. That vre soule beo to the icore Noht for the flesce for lore.

Dole us to biwepen vre sunne That we ne sternen noht therunne And gif us, lauerd, that like gifte Thet we hes ibeten thurh holie scrifte. AMEN d 1.87.

In the valuable library of Corpus Christi college in Cam|bridge, is a sort of poetical biblical history, extracted from the books of Genesis and Exodus. It was probably composed about the reign of Henry the second or Richard the first. But I am chiefly induced to cite this piece, as it proves the excessive attachment of our earliest poets to rhyme: they were fond of multiplying the same final sound to the most tedious monotony; and without producing any effect of ••legance, strength, or harmony. It begins thus:

Man og to luuen that rimes ren. The wissed wel the logede men. Hu man may him wel loken Thog he ne be lered on no boken. Luuen god and serven him ay For he it hem wel gelden may. And to al cristenei men Boren pais and luue by twem. Than sal him almighti luuven. Here by nethen and thund abuuven, And given him blisse and soules r••ste. That him sal eavermor lesten. Ut of Latin this song is a dragen On Engleis speche on soche sagen, Cristene men ogen ben so fagen. So fueles arn quan he it sen dagen. Than man hem telled soche tale Wid londes speche and wordes smale Of blisses dune, of sorwes dale,

Quhu Lucifer that devel dwale And held him sperred in helles male, Til god him frid in manliched Dede mankinde bote and red. And unswered al the fendes sped And halp thor he sag mikel ned Biddi hie singen non other led. Thog mad hic folgen idel hed. Fader gode of al thinge, Almightin louerd, hegest kinge, Thu give me seli timinge To thau men this werdes bigininge. The lauerd god to wurthinge Quether so hic rede or singe e 1.88.

We find this accumulation of identical rhymes in the Runic odes. Particularly in the ode of Egill cited above, entitled EGILL'S RANSOM. In the Cotton library a poem is preserved of the same age, on the subjects of death, judg|ment, and hell torments, where the rhymes are singular, and deserve our attention.

Non mai longe lives wene Ac ofte him lieth the wrench. Feir weither turneth ofte into reine And thunderliche hit maketh his blench, Tharfore mon thu the biwench At schal falewi thi grene. Weilawei! nis kin ne quene That ne schal drincke of deathes drench, Mon er thu falle of thi bench Thine sunne thu aquench f 1.89.

To the same period of our poetry I refer a version of Saint Jerom's French psalter, which occurs in the library of Corpus Christi college at Cambridge. The hundredth psalm is thus translated.

Mirthes to god al erthe that es Serves to louerd in faines. In go yhe ai in his ••iht, In gladnes that is so briht. Whites that louerd god is he thus He us made and our self noht us, His folk and shep of his fode: In gos his yhates that are gode: In schrift his worches believe, In ympnes to him yhe schrive. Heryhes his name for louerde is hende, In all his merci do in strende and strande g 1.90.

In the Bodleian library there is a translation of the psalms, which much resembles in style and measure this just men|tioned. If not the same, it is of equal antiquity. The hand|writing is of the age of Edward the second: certainly not later than his successor. It also contains the Nicene creed h 1.91, and some church hymns, versified: but it is mutilated and imperfect. The nineteenth psalm runs thus.

Hevenes tellen godes blis And wolken shewes hond werk his Dai to dai word rise riht, And wisdom shewes niht to niht, Of whilke that noht is herde thar steven. In al the world out yhode thar corde And in ende of erthe of tham the worde.

. . . sunne he sette his telde to stande And b. bridegroome a. he als of his lourd commande. He gladen als den to renne the wai Ffrem heighist heven hei outcoming ai, And his gairenning tilheht sete, Ne is qwilke mai him from his hete. Lagh of louerd unwenned isse, Turnand saules in to blisse: Witness of lourd is ever trewe Wisdom servand to littell newe: Lourd's rihtwisnesse riht hertes famand, But of lourd is liht eghen sighand, Drede of lourde hit heli es Domes of love ful sori sothe are ai Rihted in thamsalve ar thai, More to be beyorned over golde Or ston derwurthi that is holde: Wel swetter to mannes wombe Ovir honi and to kombe i 1.92.

This is the beginning of the eighteenth psalm.

I sal love the Lourd of ••lisse And in mine Lourd festnes min esse, And in fleming m••n als so And in lesser out of wo k 1.93.

I will add another religious fragment on the crucifixion, in the shorter measure, evidently coeval, and intended to be sung to the harp.

Vyen i o the rode se Jesu nayled to the tre, Jesu mi lefman,* 1.94

Ibunder bloe and blodi, An hys moder stant him bi, Wepand, and Johan: Hys bac wid scwrge iswungen, Hys side depe istungen, Ffor sinne and louve of man, Weil anti sinne lete An nek wit teres wete Thif i of love can l 1.95.

In the library of Jesus college at Oxford, I have seen a Norman-Saxon poem of another cast, yet without much invention or poetry m 1.96. It is a contest between an owl and a nightingale, about superiority in voice and singing; the decision of which is left to the judgment of one John de Guldevord n 1.97. It is not later than Richard the first. The rhymes are multiplied, and remarkably interchanged.

Ich was in one sumere dale In one snwe digele hale, I herde ich hold grete tale, An huleo 1.98 and one nightingale.

That plait was stif I stare and strong, Sum wile softe I lud among. Another agen other sval I let that wole mod ut al. I either seide of otheres custe, That alere worste that hi wuste I hure and I hure of others songe Hi hold plaidung suthe stronge p 1.99.

The earliest love-song which I can discover in our lan|guage, is among the Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum. I would place it before or about the year 1200. It is full of alliteration, and has a burthen or chorus.

Blow northerne wynd, sent Thou me my suetynge; blow Northerne wynd, blou, blou, blou. Ich ot a burde in boure bryht That fully semly is on syht, Menskful maiden of myht, Feire ant fre to fonde. In al this wurhliche won, A burde of blod and of bon, Neverq 1.100 ʒete y nuster 1.101 non Lussomore in Londe. Blow, &c. With lokkess 1.102 lefliche and longe, With front ant face feir to fonde; With murthes monie mote heo monge That brid so breme in boure; With lossum eie grete and gode, Weth browen blissfoll undirhode, He that rest him on the rode That leflych lyf honoure. Blou,t 1.103 &c.

Hire bire limmes liht, Ase a lantern a nyht, Hyr bleo blynkyth so bryht u 1.104. So feore heo is ant fyn, A suetly suyre heo hath to holde, With armes, shuldre as mon wolde, Ant fyngres feyre forte fold: God wolde hue were myn. Middel heo hath menskfull ••mall, Hire loveliche chere as cristal; Theyes, legges, fit, and al, Ywraught of the best; A lussum ladi lasteless, That sweting is and ever wes; A betere burde never was Yheryed with the heste, Heo ys dere worthe in day, Graciouse, stout, and gaye, Gentil, joly, so the jay, Workliche when she waketh, Maiden murgestw 1.105 of mouth Bi est, bi west, bi north, bi south, That nis ficle ne trouth, That such murthes maketh. Heo is corall of godnesse, Heo is rubie of riche fulnesse, Heo is cristal of clarnesse, Ant baner of bealtie, Heo is lilie of largesse, Heo is parnenke pronesse, Heo is salsecle of suetnesse, Ant ladie of lealtie,

To lou that leflich ys in londe Ytolde as hi as ych understonde, &c x 1.106.

From the same collection I have extracted a part of another amatorial ditty, of equal antiquity; which exhibits a stanza of no inelegant or unpleasing structure, and approaching to the octave rhyme. It is, like the last, formed on alliteration.

In a fryhte as y con fare framede Y founde a wet feyr fenge to fere, Heo glystenide ase gold when hit glemed, Nes ner gom so gladly on gere, Y wolde wyte in world who hire kenede This burde bryht, ʒef hire wil were, Heo me bed go my gates, lest hire gremede, Ne kept heo non henynge here y 1.107.

In the following lines a lover compliments his mistress named Alysoun.

Bytween Mershe and Averile when spray beginneth to springe, The lutel fowl hath hyre wyl on hyre lud to synge, Ich libbem lonclonginge for semlokest of all thynge. He may me blysse bringe icham in hire banndonn, An hendy happe ichabbe yhent ichot from hevene it is me sent. From all wymmen mi love is lent and lyht on Alisoun, On hers here is fayre ynoh, hire browe bronne, hire eye blake, With lossum chere he on me lok with middel smal and welymake, Bote he me wolle to hire take, &c z 1.108.

The following song, containing a description of the spring, displays glimmerings of imagination, and exhibits some faint

ideas of poetical expression. It is, like the three preceding, of the Norman Saxon school, and extracted from the same inexhaustible repository. I have transcribed the whole.

In May hit murgeth when hit dawes a 1.109•• In dounes with this dueres plawes b 1.110, Ant lef is lyht on lynde; Blosmes brideth on the bowes, Al this wylde whytes vowes, So wel ych under-fynde. The thresteleuec 1.111 hym threteth so, Away is huere wynter do, When woderove syngeth ferly fere, And blyleth on huere wynter wele, That al the wode ryngeth; The rose rayleth hir rode, The leves on the lyhte wode Waxen all with will: The mone mandeth hire bleo The lilie is lossum to scho; The fengle and the fille Wowes this wilde drakes, Miles huere makes. As streme that still Mody moneth so doth mo. Ichott ycham on of tho For love that likes ille, The mone mandeth hire liht, When briddes syngeth breme, Deawes donneth the donnes Deores with huere derne ronnes, Domes forte deme, Wormes woweth under cloude, Wymmen waxith wondir proude,

So wel hyt wol him seme Yef me shall wonte wille of on This weale is wole forgon Ant whyt in wode be fleme.

The following hexastic on a similar subject, is the product of the same rude period, although the context is rather more intelligible: but it otherwise deserves a recital, as it presents an early sketch of a favourite and fashionable stanza.

Lenten ys come with love to tonne, With blosmen and with briddes ronne, That al this blisse bryngeth: Dayes ezes in this dales Notes suete of nightingales, Vch foul songe singeth e 1.112.

This specimen will not be improperly succeeded by the fol|lowing elegant lines, which a cotemporary poet appears to have made in a morning walk from Peterborough on the blessed Virgin: but whose genius seems better adapted to descriptive than religious subjects.

Now skruketh rose and lylie flour, That whilen ber that suete savour In somer, that suete tyde; Ne is no quene so stark ne stour, Ne no luedy so bryht in bour That ded ne shal by glyde:W••oso wol fleshye lust for-gon and hevene-blisse abyde On Jhesu be is thoht anon, that tharled was ys side f 1.113.

To which we may add a song, probably written by the same author, on the five joys of the blessed Virgin.

* 1.114

Ase y me rod this ender day, By grene wode, to seche play; Mid herte y thohte al on a May. Sueteste of al thinge:Lithe, and ich on tell may al of that suete thinge g 1.115.

In the same pastoral vein, a lover, perhaps of the reign of king John, thus addresses his mistress, whom he supposes to be the most beautiful girl,

"Bituene Lyncolne and Lyn|deseye, Northampton and Lounde h 1.116."

.

When the nytenhale singes the wodes waxen grene, Lef, gras, and blosme, springes in Avril y wene. Ant love is to myn harte gon with one spere so kene Nyht and day my blod hit drynkes myn hart deth me tene i 1.117.

Nor are these verses unpleasing, in somewhat the same measure.

My deth y love, my lyf ich hate for a levedy shene, Heo is brith so daies liht, that is on me wel sene. Al y falewe so doth the lef in somir when hit is grene, Ʒef mi thoht helpeth me noht to whom schal I me mene? Ich have loved at this yere that y may love na more, Ich have siked moni syh, lemon, for thin ore, . . . my love never the ner and that me reweth sore; Suete lemon, thenck on me ich have loved the sore, Suete lemon, I preye the, of love one speche, While y lyve in worlde so wyde other nill I seche k 1.118.

Another, in the following little poem, enigmatically com|pares his mistress, whose name seems to be Joan, to various gems and flowers. The writer is happy in his alliteration, and his verses are tolerably harmonious.

Ic hot a burde in a bour, ase beryl so bryght, Ase saphyr in selver semely on syht, Ase jaspel 1.119 the gentil that lemethm 1.120 with lyht, Ase gernetn 1.121 in golde and rubye wel ryht, Ase onycleo 1.122 he is on y holden on hyht; Ase diamand the dere in day when he is dyht: He is coral yend with Cayser and knyght, Ase emeraude a morewen this may haveth myht. The myht of the margaryte haveth this mai mere, Ffor charbocele iche hire chase bi chyn and bi chere, Hire rede ys as rose that red ys on ryse p 1.123, With lilye white leves lossum he ys, The primros he passeth, the penenke of prys, With alisaundre thareto ache and anys: q 1.124 Coynte as columbine such hirer 1.125 cande ys, Glad under gore in gro and in grys Heo is blosme upon bleo brihtest under bis With celydone ant sange as thou thi self sys, From Weye he is wisist into Wyrhale, Hire nome is in a note of the nyhtegale; In a note is hire nome nempneth hit non Who so ryht redeth ronne to Johon s 1.126.

The curious Harleian volume, to which we are so largely indebted, has preserved a moral tale, a Comparison between age and youth, where the stanza is remarkably constructed. The various sorts of versification which we have already seen, evidently prove, that much poetry had been written, and that the art had been greatly cultivated, before this period.

Herkne to my ron, As ich ou tell con,	Of elde al hou yt ges.

Of a mody mon, Hihte Maximion,	Soth without les.
Clerc he was ful god, So moni mon undirstod.	Nou herkne hou it wes t 1.127.

For the same reason, a sort of elegy on our Saviour's cru|cifixion should not be omitted. It begins thus:

I syke when y singe for sorewe that y se When y with wypinge bihold upon the tre, Ant se Jhesu the suete Is hert blod for-lete, For the love of me; Ys woundes waxen wete, Thei wepen, still and mete, Marie reweth me u 1.128.

Nor an alliterative ode on heaven, death, judgement, &c.

Middel-erd for mon was mad, Un-mihti aren is meste mede, This hedy hath on honde yhad, That hevene hem is haste to hede. Ich erde a blisse budel us bade, The dreri domesdai to drede, Of sinful sauhting sone be sad, That derne doth this derne dede, This wrakefall werkes under wede, In soule soteleth sone w 1.129.

That he ben derne done.

Many of these measures were adopted from the French chansons x 1.130. I will add one or two more specimens.

On our Saviour's Passion and Death.

Jesu for thi muchele might Thou ʒef us of thi grace, That we mowe day and nyht Thenken of thi face. In myn hert it doth me god, When y thenke on Jhesu blod, That ran down bi ys syde; From is harte doune to ys fote, For ous he spradde is harte blod•• His wondes were so wyde y 1.131.

On the same subject.

Lutel wot hit any mon Hou love hym haveth y bounde, That for us o the rode ron, Ant boht us with is wonde; The love of him us haveth ymaked ••ound, And y cast the grimly gost to ground: Ever and oo, nyht and day, he haveth us in his thohte, He nul nout leose that he so deore boht z 1.132.

The following are on love and gallantry. The poet, named Richard, professes himself to have been a great writer of love|songs.

Weping haveth myn wonges wet, For wilked worke ant wone of wyt, Unblithe y be til y ha bet, Bruches broken ase bok byt: Of levedis love that y ha let, That lemeth al with luefly lyt, Ofte in songe y have hem set, That is unsemly ther hit syt.

Hit syt and semethe noht, Ther hit ys seid in song That y have of them wroht, Y wis hit is all wrong a 1.133.

It was customary with the early scribes, when stanzas con|sisted of short lines, to throw them together like prose. As thus:

"A wayle whiyt as whalles bon | a grein in golde that godly shon | a tortle that min hart is on | in tonnes trewe | Hire gladship nes never gon | while y may glewe b 1.134."

Sometimes they wrote three or four verses together as one line.

With longynge y am lad | on molde y waxe mad | a maide marreth me, Y grede y grone un glad | for ••elden y am ••ad | that semly for te see. Levedi thou rewe me | to routhe thou havest me rad | be bote of that y bad | my lyf is long on the c 1.135.

Again,

Most i rydden by rybbes dale | widle wymmen for te wale | ant welde wreek ich wolde: Founde were the feirest on | that ever was mad of blod ant bon | in boure best with bolde d 1.136.

This mode of writing is not uncommon in antient manu|scripts of French poetry. And some critics may be inclined to suspect, that the verses which we call Alexandrine, acci|dentally assumed their form merely from the practice of ab|surd transcribers, who frugally chose to fill their pages to the extremity, and violated the metrical structure for the sake

of saving their vellum. It is certain, that the common stanza of four short lines may be reduced into two Alexandrines, and on the contrary. I have before observed, that the Saxon poem cited by Hickes, consisting of one hundred and ninety one stanzas, is written in stanzas in the Bodleian, and in Alexandrines in the Trinity manuscript at Cambridge. How it came originally from the poet I will not pretend to de|termine.

Our early poetry often appears in satirical pieces on the established and eminent professions. And the writers, as we have already seen, succeeded not amiss when they cloathed their satire in allegory. But nothing can be conceived more scurrilous and illiberal than their satires when they descend to mere invective. In the British Museum, among other ex|amples which I could mention, we have a satirical ballad on the lawyers e 1.137, and another on the clergy, or rather some par|ticular bishop. The latter begins thus:

Hyrd-men hatieth ant vch mones hyne, For ever uch a parosshe heo polketh in pyne Ant clastreth wyf heore celle: Nou wol vch fol clerc that is fayly Wend to the bysshop ant bugge bayly, Nys no wyt in is nolle f 1.138.

The elder French poetry abounds in allegorical satire: and I doubt not that the author of the satire on the monastic profession, cited above, copied some French satire on the subject. Satire was one species of the poetry of the Proven|cial troubadours. Anselm Fayditt a troubadour of the ele|venth century, who will again be mentioned, wrote a sort of satirical drama called the HERESY of the FATHERS, HERE|GIA DEL PREYRES, a ridicule on the council which con|demned the Albigenses. The papal legates often fell under

the lash of these poets; whose favour they were obliged to court, but in vain, by the promise of ample gratuities g 1.139. Hugues de Bercy, a French monk, wrote in the twelfth cen|tury a very lively and severe satire; in which no person, not even himself, was spared, and which he called the BIBLE, as containing nothing but truth h 1.140.

In the Harleian manuscripts I find an ancient French poem, yet respecting England, which is a humorous pane|gyric on a new religious order called LE ORDRE DE BEL EYSE. This is the exordium.

Qui vodra a moi entendre Oyr purra e aprendre L'estoyre de un ORDRE NOVEL Qe mout est delitous bel.

The poet ingeniously feigns, that his new monastic order consists of the most eminent nobility and gentry of both sexes, who inhabit the monasteries assigned to it promiscu|ously; and that no person is excluded from this establish|ment who can support the rank of a gentleman. They are bound by their statutes to live in perpetual idleness and lux|ury: and the satyrist refers them for a pattern or rule of prac|tice in these important articles, to the monasteries of Sem|pringham in Lincolnshire, Beverley in Yorkshire, the Knights Hospitalers, and many other religious orders then flourish|ing in England i 1.141.

When we consider the feudal manners, and the magnifi|cence of our Norman ancestors, their love of military glory, the enthusiasm with which they engaged in the crusades, and the wonders to which they must have been familiarised from those eastern enterprises, we naturally suppose, what will hereafter be more particularly proved, that their retinues

abounded with minstrels and harpers, and that their chief entertainment was to listen to the recital of romantic and martial adventures. But I have been much disappointed in my searches after the metrical tales which must have pre|vailed in their times. Most of those old heroic songs are perished, together 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, which will be mentioned in their proper places; yet divested of their original form, polished in their style, adorned with new incidents, successively mo|dernised by repeated transcription and recitation, and retain|ing little more than the outlines of the original composition. This has not been the case of the legendary and other reli|gious poems written soon after the conquest, manuscripts of which abound in our libraries. From the nature of their subject they were less popular and common; and being less frequently recited, became less liable to perpetual innovation or alteration.

The most antient English metrical romance which I can discover, is entitled the GESTE OF KING HORN. It was evi|dently written after the crusades had begun, is mentioned by Chaucer k 1.142, and probably still remains in its original state. I will first give the substance of the story, and afterwards add some specimens of the composition. But I must premise, that this story occurs in very old French metre in the manu|scripts of the British Museum l 1.143, so that probably it is a translation: a circumstance which will throw light on an argument pursued hereafter, proving that most of our me|trical romances are translated from the French.

Mury, king of the Saracens, lands in the kingdom of Sud|dene, where he kills the king named Allof. The queen, Godylt, escapes; but Mury seizes on her son Horne, a beautiful

youth aged fi••teen years, and puts him into a galley, with two of his play-fellows, Achulph and Fykenyld: the vessel being driven on the coast of the kingdom of West|nesse, the young prince is found by Aylmar king of that country, brought to court, and delivered to Athelbrus his steward, to be educated in hawking, harping, tilting, and other courtly accomplishments. Here the princess Rymenild falls in love with him, declares her passion, and is betrothed. Horne, in consequence of this engagement, leaves the princess for seven years; to demonstrate, according to the ritual of chivalry, that by seeking and accomplishing dan|gerous enterprises he deserved her affection. He proves a most valorous and invincible knight: and at the end of seven years, having killed king Mury, recovered his father's king|dom, and atchieved many signal exploits, recovers the prin|cess Rymenild from the hands of his treacherous knight and companion Fykenyld; carries her in triumph to his own country, and there reigns with her in great splendor and prosperity. The poem itself begins and proceeds thus:

Alle heo ben blythe, that to my songe ylythe m 1.144: A songe yet ulle ou singe of Alloff the god kynge, Kynge he was by weste the whiles hit y leste; And Godylt his gode quene, no feyrore myhte bene, Ant huere sone hihte Horne, feyrore childe ne myhte be borne: For reyne ne myhte by ryne ne sonne myhte shine Feyror childe than he was, bryht so ever eny glas, So whyte so eny lilye floure, so rose red was his colour; He was feyre ant eke bold, and of fyfteene wynter old, This non his yliche in none kinges ryche. Tueye ferenn 1.145 he hadde, that he with him ladde, Al rychemenne sonne, and al suyth feyre gromes, Weth hem forte pley anusteo 1.146 he loved tueye,

That on was hoten Achulph child, and that other Ffykenild, Aculph was the best, and Ffykenyld the werste, Yt was upon a somersday also, as ich one telle may, Allof the gode kynge rode upon his pleying, Bi the se side, there he was woned to ride; With him ne ryde bot tuo, at to felde hue were tho: He fond bi the stronde, aryved on is lond, Shipes systene of Sarazins kene: He asked what hue sohten other on his lond brohten.

But I hasten to that part of the story where prince Horne appears at the court of the king of Westnesse.

The kyng com into hall, among his knyghtes alle, Forth he cleped Athelbrus, his stewarde, him seyde thus: "Steward tal thou here my fundling for to lere, "Of some mystere of woode and of ryvere p 1.147, "And toggen othe harpe with is nayles sharpe q 1.148, "And teche at the listes that thou ever wistes, "Byfore me to kerven, and of my course to serven r 1.149,

"Ant his feren devyse without other surmise; "Horne-childe, thou understond, teche hym of harpe and songe." Athelbrus gon leren Horne and hyse feren; Horne mid herte laghte al that mon hym taghte, Within court and withoute, and overall aboute, Lovede men Horne-child, and most him loved Ymenild The kinges owne dothter, for he was in hire thohte, Hire loved him in hire mod, for he was faire and eke gode, And that tyne ne dorste at worde and myd hem spek ner a worde, Ne in the halle, amonge the knyhtes alle, Hyre sorewe and hire payne nolde never fayne, Bi daye ne bi nyhte for here speke ne myhte, With Horne that was so feir and fre, tho hue ne myhte with him be; In herte hue had care and wo, and thus hire bihote hire tho: Hue sende hyre sonde Athelbrus to honde, That he come here to, and also childe Horne do, In to hire boure, for hue bigon to loure, And the sonds 1.150 sayde, that seek was the mayde, And bed hym quyke for hue nis non blyke. The stewarde was in huerte wo, for he wist whit he shulde do•• That Rymenyld bysohte gret wonder him thohte; About Horne he yinge to boure forte bringe, He thohte en his mode hit nes for none gode; He toke with him another, Athulph Horne's brother t 1.151, "Athulph, quoth he, ryht anon thou shalt with me to boure gon, "To speke with Rymenyld stille, and to wyte hire wille, "Thou art Horne's yliche, thou shalt hire by suyke, "Sore me adrede that hire wil Horne mys rede." Athelbrus and Athulf tho to hire boure both ygo,

Upon Athulf childe Rymenilde con wox wilde, Hue wende Horne it were, that hue hadde there; Hue setten adown stille, and seyden hire wille, In her armes tweye Athulf she con leye, "Horne, quoth heo, wellong I have lovede thee strong, "Thou shalt thy truth plyht in myne honde with ryht, "Me to spouse welde and iche the loverde to helde." "So stille so hit were, Achulf seide in her ere, "Ne tel thou no more speche may y the byseche "Thi tale—thou linne, for Horne his nout his ynne, &c."

At length the princess finds she has been deceived, the steward is severely reprimanded, and prince Horne is brought to her chamber; when, says the poet,

Of is fayre syhte al that boure gan lyhte u 1.152.

It is the force of the story in these pieces that chiefly en|gages our attention. The minstrels had no idea of conduct|ing and describing a delicate situation. The general manners were gross, and the arts of writing unknown. Yet this simplicity sometimes pleases more than the most artificial touches. In the mean time, the pictures of antient manners presented by these early writers, strongly interest the ima|gination: especially as having the same uncommon merit with the pictures of manners in Homer, that of being founded in truth and reality, and actually painted from the life. To talk of the grossness and absurdity of such manners is little to the purpose; the poet is only concerned in the justness and faithfulness of the representation.

Notes

• a 1.1

  The Saxons came into England A. D. 450.
• b 1.2

  Lib. iv. cap. 4. Some have improper|ly referred to this dialect the HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS, in the Cotton library; the style of which approaches in purity and antiquity to that of the CODEX ARGEN|TEUS. It is Frankish. See Brit. Mus. MSS. Cotton. CALI••. A. 7. membran. octavo. This book is supposed to have be|longed to king Canute. Eight richly illu|minated historical pictures are bound up with it, evidently taken from another manuscript, but probably of the age of king Stephen.
• c 1.3

  A. D. 1066.
• d 1.4

  See Hickes. Thes. Ling. Vett. Sept. P. i. cap. xxi. pag. 177. And Praefat. fol. xiv. The curious reader is also referred to a Danish Saxon poem, celebrating the wars which Beowulf, a noble Dane, descended from the royal stem of Scyldinge, waged against the kings of Swedeland. MSS. Cotton. ut supr. VITELL. A. 15. Cod. membran. ix. fol. 130. Compare, writ|ten in the style Caedmon, a fragment of an ode in praise of the exploits of Brithnoth, Offa's ealdorman, or general, in a battle fought against the Danes. Ibid. OTH. A. 12. Cod. membran. 4to. iii. Brithnoth, the hero of this piece, a Northumbrian, died in the year 991.
• e 1.5

  MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Oxon. Cod. mem|bran. in Pyxid. 4to grand. quadrat. And MSS. Cotton. ut supr. OTHO. Nor. D. 4. Bot•• these manuscripts were written and or|namented in the Saxon times, and are of the highest curiosity and antiquity.
• f 1.6

  Printed by Junius, Amst. 1655. The greatest part of the Bodleian manuscript of this book, is believed to have been written about A. D. 1000.—Cod. Jun. xi. mem|bran. fol.
• g 1.7

  He died 1189.
• h 1.8

  Dugd. Mon. i. 89.
• i 1.9

  Ingulph. Hist. p. 62. sub. ann. 1043.
• k 1.10

  But there is a precept in Saxon from William the first, to the sheriff of Somer|setshire. Hickes. Thes. i. par. i. pag. 106. See also Praefat. ibid. p. xv.
• l 1.11

  The Normans who practiced every specious expedient to plunder the monks, demanded a sight of the written evidences of their lands. The monks well knew, that it would have been useless or impoli|tic to have produced these evidences, or charters, in the original Saxon; as the Normans not only did not understand, but would have received with contempt, instru|ments written in that language. There|fore the monks were compelled to the pious fraud of forging them in Latin: and great numbers of these forged Latin charters, till lately supposed original, are still extant. See Spelman, in Not. ad Concil. Anglic. p. 125. Stillingfl. Orig. Eccle••. Britann. p. 14. Marsham, Praefat. ad D••gd. Mo|nast. And Wharton, Angl. Sacr. vol. ii. Praefat. p. ii. iii. iv. See also Ingulph. p. 512. Launoy and Mabillon have treat|ed this subject with great learning and pe|netration.
• m 1.12

  Ingulph. p. 71. sub. ann. 1066.
• n 1.13

  See Brompt. Ch••on. p. 1026. Abb•• Rieval. p. 339.
• o 1.14

  Ingulph, p. 85.
• p 1.15

  Ibid. p. 98. sub. ann. 1091.
• q 1.16

  Matt. Paris. sub. ann.
• r 1.17

  H. Wharton, Auctar. Histor. Dog|mat. p. 388. The learned Mabillon is mistaken in asserting, that the Saxon way of writing was entirely abolished in Eng|land at the time of the Norman conquest. See Mabillon. De Re Diplomat. p. 52. The French antiquaries are fond of this notion. There are Saxon characters in Herbert Losinga's charter for founding the church of Norwich. Temp. Will. Ruf. A. D. 1110. See Lambarde's Diction. V. NORWICH. See also Hickes. Thesaur. i. Par. i. p. 149. See also Praefat. p. xvi. An intermixture of the Saxon character is common in English and Latin manuscripts, before the reign of Edward the third: but of a few types only.
• s 1.18

  MSS. Bodl. NE. F. 4. 12. Cod. mem|bran. fol.
• t 1.19

  Yet some Norman charters have the cross.
• u 1.20

  Gervas. Tilbur. de Otiis Imperial. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. lib. iii. See du Chesne, iii. p. 363.
• w 1.21

  Lect. in Libr. Sapient. Lect. ii. Paris. 1518. 4to.
• * 1.22

  ^x Lib. i. cap. 59. MSS. Coll. S. Johan. Cantabr. But I think it is printed by Cax|ton and Wynkyn de Worde. Robert of Gloucester, who wrote about 1280, says much the same, edit. Hearne, p. 364.
• y 1.23

  Country.
• z 1.24

  Delights, tries.
• a 1.25

  Time.
• b 1.26

  In the statutes of Oriel College in Oxford, it is ordered, that the scholars, or fellows,

  "siqua inter se proferant, colloquio Latino, vel saltem Gallico, perfruantur."

  See Hearne's Trokelowe, pag. 298. These statutes were given 23 Maii, A. D. 1328. I find much the same injunction in the sta|tutes of Exeter College, Oxford, given about 1330. Where they are ordered to use,

  "Romano aut Gallico saltem sermone."

  Hearne's MSS. Collect. num. 132. pag. 73. Bibl. Bodl. But in Merton College statutes, mention is made of the Latin only. In cap. x. They were given 1271. This was also common in the greater monasteries. In the register of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, the domicellus of the Prior of S. Swythin's at Winchester, is ordered to address the bishop, on a certain occasion, in French, A. D. 1398. Registr. Par. iii. fol. 177.
• c 1.27

  But the French formularies and terms of law, and particularly the French feudal phraseology, had taken too deep root to be thus hastily abolished. Hence, long after the reign of Edward the third, many of our lawyers composed their tracts in French. And reports and some statutes were made in that language. See Fortescut. de Laud. Leg. Angl. cap. xlviii.
• d 1.28

  Pulton's Statut. 36. Edw. iii. This was A. D. 1363. The first English in|strument in Rymer is dated 1368. Foed. vii. p. 526.
• e 1.29

  This subject will be further illustrated in the next section.
• f 1.30

  Ling. Vett. Thes. Part. i. p. 222. There is another copy not mentioned by Hickes, in Jesus College library at Ox|ford, MSS. 85. infr. citat. This is enti|tled Tractatus guidam in Anglico. The Dig|by manuscript has no title.
• f 1.31

  See Petr. Lambec. Comment. de Bibl. Caesar. Vindebon. pag. 418. 457.
• g 1.32

  See Petr. Lambec. ubi supr. lib. ii. cap. 5. There is a circumstance belonging to the antient Frankish versification, which, as it greatly illustrates the subject of allite|ration, deserves notice here. Otfrid's de|dication of his Evangelical history to Lewis the first, king of the oriental France, consists of four lined stanzas in rhyming couplets: but the first and last line of every stanzas begin and end with the same letter: and the letters of the title of the dedica|tion respectively, and the word of the last line of every tetrastic. Flaccus Illyrius published this work of Otfrid at Basil, 1571. But I think it has been since more correctly printed by Johannes Schilterus. It was written about the year 880. Otfrid was the disciple of Rhabanus Maurus.
• h 1.33

  St. xiv.
• i 1.34

  Sende god biforen him man, þe hƿile he mai to heuene; For betere is on elmesse biforen Danne ben after ••euene.

  This is perhaps the true reading, from the Trinity manuscript at Cambridge, written about the reign of Henry the second, or Richard the first. Cod. membran. 8vo. Tractat. I. See Abr. Wheloc. Eccles. Hist. Bed. p. 25. 114.
• k 1.35

  MSS. Digb. A. 4. membran.
• l 1.36

  As I recollect, the whole poem is thus exhibited in the Trinity manuscript.
• a 1.37

  Heaven. Sax.
• b 1.38

  Merry, chearful.

  "Although Para|dise is chearful and bright, Cokayne is a much more beautiful place."
• c 1.39

  101. Orig.
• d 1.40

  Pleasure.
• e 1.41

  Butt••ry.
• f 1.42

  Shingles.

  "The tiles, or covering of the house, are of rich cakes."
• g 1.43

  The Pinnacles.
• h 1.44

  Fountains.
• i 1.45

  This word will be explained at large hereafter.
• k 1.46

  Running. Sax.
• l 1.47

  Course. Sax.
• m 1.48

  The Arabian Philosophy imported in|to Europe, was full of the doctrine of pre|cious stones.
• n 1.49

  Our old poets are never so happy as when they can get into a catalogue of things or names. See Obser••at. on the Fairy Queen, i. p. 140.
• o 1.50

  Crieth. Gallo-Franc.
• p 1.51

  Quick, quickly. Gallo-Franc.
• q 1.52

  "To the great Abbey of Grey Monks."
• r 1.53

  Lascivious motions. Gambols. Fr. Gambiller.
• s 1.54

  Hickes. Thesaur. i. Part i. p. 231. seq.
• t 1.55

  As appears fro•• this line.

  Lordinges gode and hende, &c.

  It is in MSS. More, Cantabrig. 784. f. 1.
• u 1.56

  His lands are cited in Doomsday Book.

  "GLOUCESTERSCIRE. Berdic, Joculator Regis, habet iii. villas et ibi v. car. nil redd."

  See Anstis, Ord. Gart. ii. 304.
• w 1.57

  It is worthy of remark, that we find in the collection of ancient northern monu|ments, published by M. Biorner, a poem of some length, said by that author to have been composed in the twelfth or thirteenth century. This poem is professedly in rhyme, and the measure like that of the heroic Alexandrine of the French poetry. See Mallet's Introd. Dannem. &c. ch. xiii.
• x 1.58

  And. Fr.
• y 1.59

  I direct. Fr.

  "I advise you, your, &c."
• z 1.60

  Life. Fr.
• a 1.61

  Called. Saxon.
• b 1.62

  Chose a wife. Sax.

  "He was mar|ried in Antioch."
• c 1.63

  "Deaf gods, &c."
• d 1.64

  In bed.
• e 1.65

  Checklaton. See Obs. Fair. Q. i. 194.
• f 1.66

  Hickes. i. 225. The legend of Scint•• Juliane in the Bodleian library is rather older, but of much the same versification. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. NE. 3. xi. membran. 8vo. iii. fol. 36. This manuscript I believe to be of the age of Henry the third or king John: the composition much earlier. It was translated from the Latin. These are the five last lines.

  þƿhen d••ihtin o domesdei þindþeð his hþeate, And þer ƿeð þaet dusti chef to hellene heate, þe mote beon a corn i godes guldene edene,De turde ðis of latin to Englische ledene And he þaet he•• least onþ••at sþa as he cuþe. AMEN.

  That is,

  "When the judge at dooms|day winnows his wheat and drives the dusty chaff into the heat of hell; may there be a corner in god's golden Eden for him who turned this book into Latin, &c."
• g 1.67

  The same that are mentioned by Hearne, from a manuscript of Ralph Sh••i|don. See Hearne's Petr. Langt. p. 542. 607. 608. 609. 611. 628. 670. Saint Winifred's Life is printed from the same collection by bishop Fleetwood, in his Life and Miracles of S. ••inifred, p. 125. ed. 1713.
• h 1.68

  It is in fact a metrical history of the festivals of the whole year. The life of the respective Saint is described under every Saints day, and the institutions of some sundays, and feasts not taking their rise from saints, are explained, on the plan of the Legenda Aurea, written by Jacobus de Voragine, archbishop of Genoa, about the year 1290, from which Caxton, through the medium of a French version entitled Legend Doré••, translated his Golden Legend. The Festival, or Fe••••iall, printed by Wyn|kin de Worde, is a book of the same sort, yet with homilies intermixed. See MSS. Harl. 2247. fol. and 2371. 4to. and 2391. 4to. and 2402. 4to. and 2800. seq. Manuscript lives of Saints, detached, and not belonging to this collection, are fre|quent in libraries. The Vitae Patrum were originally drawn from S. Jerome and Jo|hannes Cassianus. In Gresham college li|brary are metrical lives of ten Saints chiefly from the Golden Legend, by Osberne Boken|ham, an Augustine canon in the abbey of Stoke-clare in Suffolk, transcribed by Thomas Burgh at Cambridge 1477. The Life of S. Katharine appears to have been composed in 1445. MSS. Coll. Gresh. 315. The French translation of the L••g••nda Au|rea was made by Jehan de Vignay, a monk, soon after 1300.
• i 1.69

  Ashmole cites this Life, Instit. Ord. Gart. p. 21. And he cites S. Brandon's Life, p. 507. Ashmole's manuscript was in the hands of Silas Taylor. It is now in his Museum at Oxford. MSS. Ashm. 50. [7001.]
• k 1.70

  MSS. Bodl. 779.—Laud, L. 70. And they make a considerable part of a prodi|gious folio volume, beautifully written on vellum, and elegantly illuminated, where they have the following title, which also comprehends other antient English religious poems.

  "Here begynnen the tytles of the book that is cald in Latyn tonge SALUS ANIME, and in Englysh tonge SOWLE|HELE."

  It was given to the Bodleian library by Edward Vernon esquire, soon after the civil war. I shall cite it under the title of MS. Vernon. Although pieces not absolutely religious are sometimes intro|duced, the scheme of the compiler or trans|criber seems to have been, to form a com|plete body of legendary and scriptural his|tory in verse, or rather to collect into one view all the religious poetry he could find. Accordingly the Lives of the Saints, a dis|tinct and large work of itself, properly constituted a part of his plan. There is an|other copy of the Lives of the Saints in the British Museum, MSS. Harl. 2277. And in Ashmole's Museum, MSS. Ashm. ut supr. I think this manuscript is also in Ben•••••• col|lege library. The Lives seem to be placed according to their respective festivals in the course of the year. The Bodleian copy (marked 779.) is a thick folio, containing 310 leaves. The variations in these manu|scripts seem chiefly owing to the transcribers. The Life of Saint Margaret in MSS. Bodl. 779. begins much like that of Trinity library at Cambridge.

  Old ant yonge I preye you your folyis for to lete, &c.

  I must add here, that in the Harleian li|brary, a few Lives, from the same collec|tion of Lives of the Saints, occur, MSS. 2250. 23. f. 72. b. seq. chart. fol. See also ib. 19. f. 48. These Lives are in French rhymes, ib. 2253. f. 1.
• l 1.71

  Thus in MSS. Harl. fol. 78.

  Seint Swiþþin ðe confessour was here of Engelonde Biside Wynchestre hi was ibore as ic vnderstonde.
• m 1.72

  Since.
• n 1.73

  f. 93. MS. Vernon.
• o 1.74

  MS. Vernon. fol. 76. b.
• p 1.75

  MSS. Harl. ut supr. fol. 101. b.

  Seint Cristofre was Sarazin in ðe lond of Canaan In no stede bi his daye ne fond me so strong a man Four and tuenti ••et he was long and þiche and brod y-noug, &c.
• q 1.76

  Fiddle.
• r 1.77

  MS. Vernon, fol. 119.
• s 1.78

  Bodl. MSS. 779. fol. 41. b.
• t 1.79

  MSS. Harl. fol. 195. b.

  Gilbert was Thomas fader name þat true was and gód And lovede god and holi church siþþe he wit undérstod.

  This Harleian manuscript is imperfect in many parts.
• u 1.80

  MSS. Bodl. 779. f. 41. b.
• x 1.81

  Who died 1199. In the Cotton library I find the lives of Saint Josaphas and Saint Dorman: where the Norman seems to predominate, although Saxon letters are used. Brit. Mus. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. ix. Cod. membran. 4to. ii. fol. 192.

  Ici commence la vie de seint Iosaphaz.

  Ri uout vout a nul bien aentendre Per essample poet mlt aprendre.

  iii. fol. 213. b. Ici commence la vie de Seint Dormanz.

  La vertu deu iur tut ius •• dure E tut iurz est certeine epure.

  Many legends and religious pieces in Norman rhyme were written about this time. See MSS. Harl. 2253 f. 1. membr. fol. ••upr. citat. p. 14.
• y 1.82

  Viz. MS. Vernon.
• z 1.83

  MSS. Harl. 2391. 70. The dialect is perfectly northern.
• a 1.84

  That legends of Saints were sung to the harp at feasts, appears from The Life of Saint Marine, MSS. Harl. 2253. fol. memb. f. 64. b.

  Herketh hideward and beoth s••ille, Y•• praie ou ʒif hit be or wille, And ʒe shule here of one virgin That was ycleped saint Maryne.

  And from various other instances.

  Some of these religious poems contain the usual address of the minstrel to the com|pany. As in a poem of our Saviour's de|scent into hell, and his discourse there with Sathanas the porter, Adam, Eve, Abra|ham, &c. MSS. ibid. f. 57.

  Alle herkeneth to me now, A strif wolle ye tellen ou: Of Jhesu and of Sathan, Tho Jhesu wes to hell y-gan.

  Other proofs will occur occasionally.
• b 1.85

  As I collect from the following poem, MS. Vernon, fol. 229.

  The Visions of Seynt Poul won be was ra••t into Paradys.

  Lusteneth lordynges leof and dere, Ʒe that wolen of the Sonday here; The Sonday a day hit is That angels and archangels joyn i wis More in that ilke day Then any odur, &c.
• c 1.86

  MS. Vernon, fol. 8.
• d 1.87

  Quart. minor. 185. Cod. membran. vi. f. 21. b.
• e 1.88

  MSS. R. 11. Cod. membran. octavo. It seems to be in the northern dialect.
• f 1.89

  Bibl. Cotton, MSS. CALIG. A. ix.—vi. f. 243.
• g 1.90

  O. 6. Cod. membr. 4to.
• h 1.91

  Hickes has printed a metrical. version of the creed of St. Athanasius. To whom, to avoid prolix and obselete specimens al|ready printed, I refer the reader. Th••saur. P. i. p. 233. I believe it to be of the age of Henry the second.
• i 1.92

  MSS. Bodl. pergamen. fol. 425. f. 5.
• k 1.93

  Ibid. f. 4.
• * 1.94

  Sic.
• l 1.95

  MSS. Bibl. Bodl. B. 3. 18. Th. f. 101. b. (Langb. vi. 209.)
• m 1.96

  It is also in Bibl. Cotton. MSS. CALIG. ix. A. 5. fol. 230.
• n 1.97

  So it is said in Catal. MSS. Angl. p. 69. But by mistake. Our John de Guldevorde is indeed the author of the poem which immediately precedes in the manuscript, as appears by the following entry at the end of it, in the hand-writing of the very Iearned Edward Lwyhd.

  "On part of a broken leaf of this MS. I find these verses writ|ten, whearby the author may be guest at.

  Mayster Johan eu greteth of Guldworde tho, And sendeth eu to seggen that synge he nul he wo, On thisse wise he will endy his songe, God louerde of hevene, beo us alle amonge.

  "

  The piece is entitled and begins thus;

  Ici commence la Passyun Ihu Crist en engleys.

  I hereth eu one lutele tale that ich eu wille telle As we vyndeth hit iwrite in the godspelle, Nis hit nouht of Karlemeyne ne of the Duzpere As of Cristes thruwynge, &c.

  It seems to be of equal antiquity with that mentioned in the text. The whole manuscript, consisting of many detached pieces both in verse and prose, was perhaps written in the reign of Henry the sixth.
• o 1.98

  Owl.
• p 1.99

  MSS. Coll. Jes. Oxon. 86. membr.
• q 1.100

  Yet.
• r 1.101

  Knew not.
• s 1.102

  Lively.
• t 1.103

  Sic.
• u 1.104

  Blee. Complexion.
• w 1.105

  Merriest.
• x 1.106

  MSS. Harl. 2253. fol. membran. f. 72. b.
• y 1.107

  MSS. ibid. f. 66. The pieces which I have cited from this manuscript, appear to be of the hand-writing of the reign of Ed|ward the first.
• z 1.108

  MSS. ibid. f. 63. b.
• a 1.109

  "It is mery at dawn."
• b 1.110

  Plays.
• c 1.111

  Throstle. Thrush.
• e 1.112

  MSS. ibid. f. 71. b.
• f 1.113

  Ibid. f. 80.
• * 1.114

  MSS. ibid. ut supr. f. 71. b.
• g 1.115

  MSS. ibid. f. 81. b.
• h 1.116

  London.
• i 1.117

  Ibid. f. 80. b.
• k 1.118

  Ibid. f. 80. b.
• l 1.119

  Jasper.
• m 1.120

  Streams, shines.
• n 1.121

  Garnet.
• o 1.122

  Onyx.
• p 1.123

  Branch.
• q 1.124

  Quaint.
• r 1.125

  White complexion.
• s 1.126

  MSS. ibid. f. 63.
• t 1.127

  Ibid. f. 82.
• u 1.128

  Ibid. f. 80.
• w 1.129

  Ibid. f. 62. b.
• x 1.130

  See MSS. Harl. ut supr. f. 49. 76.
• y 1.131

  Ibid. f. 79. Probably this song has been somewhat modernised by transcribers.
• z 1.132

  Ibid. f. 128. These lines afterwards occur, burlesqued and parodied, by a writer of the same age.
• a 1.133

  Ibid. f. 66.
• b 1.134

  Ut supr. f. 67.
• c 1.135

  Ibid. 63. b.
• d 1.136

  Ibid. f. 66.
• e 1.137

  MSS. ut sup••. f. 70. b.
• f 1.138

  Ibid. f. 71.
• g 1.139

  Fontenelle, Hist. Theatr. Fr. p. 18. ••dit 1742.
• h 1.140

  See Fauchett, Rec. p. 151.
• i 1.141

  MSS. ibid. f. 121.
• k 1.142

  Rim. Thop. 3402. Urr.
• l 1.143

  MSS. Harl. 527. b. f. 59. Cod. membr.
• m 1.144

  Listen.
• n 1.145

  Companions.
• o 1.146

  Alike.
• p 1.147

  So Robert de Brunne of king Marian. Hearne's Rob. Gloc. p. 622.

  —Marian faire in chere He couthe of wod and ryvere In alle maner of venrie, &c.
• q 1.148

  In another part of the poem he is in|troduced playing on his harp.

  Horne sett hi abenche, his harpe he gan clenche, He made Rymenild a lay ant he seide weilaway, &c.

  In the chamber of a bishop of Winchester at Merdon castle, now ruined, we find mention made of benches only. Comp. MS. J. Gerveys, Episcop. Winton, 1266.

  "Ii|dem red. comp. de ii. mensis in aula ad m••gnum descum. Et de iii. mensis, ex una parte, et ii. mensis ex altera parte c••m tressellis in aula. Et de i. mensa cum tressellis in camera dom. episcopi. Etv. ••ormis in eadem camera."

  Descus, in old English dees, is properly a canopy over the high table. See a curious account of the goods in the palace of the bishop of Nivernois in France, in the year 1287, in Montf. Cat. MSS. ii. p. 984. col. 2.
• r 1.149

  According to the rules of chivalry, every knight before his creation passed through two offices. He was first a page: and at fourteen years of age he was formal|ly admitted an esquire. The esquires were divided into several departments; that of the body, of the chamber, of the stable, and the carving esquire. The latter stood in the hall at dinner, where he carved the different dishes with proper skill and ad|dress, and directed the distribution of them among the guests. The inferior offices had also their respective esquires. Mem. anc. Cheval. i•• 16. seq.
• s 1.150

  Messenger.
• t 1.151

  Companion, friend.
• u 1.152

  MSS. ibid. f. 83. Where the title is written,

  "þ geste of kynge Horne."

  There is a copy, much altered and mo|dernised, in the Advocates library at Edin|burgh, W. 4. i. Numb. xxxiv. The title Horn-childe and Maiden Rinivel. The be|gining,

  Mi leve frende dere, Herken and ye shall here.