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.3]

A DISSERTATION ON THE GESTA ROMANORUM.

TALES are the learning of a rude age. In the p••og••ess of letters, speculation and enquiry commence with re∣finement of manners. Literature becomes sentimental and discursive, in proportion as a people is polished: and men must be instructed by facts, either real or imaginary, before they can apprehend the subtleties of argument, and the force of ref••ection.

Vincent of Beauvais, a learned Dominican of France, who flou∣rished in the thirteenth century, observes in his MIRROR of HISTORY, that it was a practice of the preachers of his age, to rouse the indifference and relieve the languor of their hearers, by quoting the fables of Esop: yet, at the same time, he re∣commends a sparing and prudent application of these profane fancies in the discussion of sacred subjects a 1.1. Among the Harleian

manuscripts in the British Museum we find a very antient collection of two hundred and fifteen stories, romantic, allegorical, religious, and legendary, which were evidently compiled by a professed preacher, for the use of monastic societies. Some of these ap∣pear to have been committed to writing from the recitals of bards and minstrels: others to have been invented and written by troubadours and monks b 1.2. In the year 1389, a grand system of divinity appeared at Paris, afterwards translated by Caxton under the title of the COURT OF SAPYENCE, which abounds with a multitude of historical examples, parables, and apologues; and which the writer wisely supposes, to be much more likely to interest the attention and excite the devotion of the people, than the authority of science, and the parade of theology. In consequence of the expediency of this mode of of instruction, the Legends of the Saints were received into the ritual, and rehearsed in the course of public worship. For religious romances were nearly allied to songs of chivalry; and the same gross ignorance of the people, which in the early centuries of christianity created a necessity of introducing the visible pomp of theatrical ceremonies into the churches, was taught the duties of devotion, by being amused with the achieve∣ments of spiritual knight-errantry, and impressed with the ex∣amples of pious heroism. In more cultivated periods, the DECA∣MERON of Boccace, and other books of that kind, ought to be considered as the remnant of a species of writing which was founded on the simplicity of mankind, and was adapted to the exigencies of the infancy of society.

Many obsolete collections of this sort still remain, both printed and manuscript, containing narratives either fictitious or historical,

—Of king and heroes old, Such as the wise Demodocus once told In solemn songs at king Alcinous' feast c 1.3.

But among the antient story-books of this character, a Latin compilation entitled GESTA ROMANORUM seems to have been the favorite.

This piece has been before incidentally noticed: but as it operated powerfully on the general body of our old poetry, affording a variety of inventions not only to Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate, but to their distant successors, I have judged it of sufficient importance to be examined at large in a separate disser∣tation: which has been designedly reserved for this place, for the purpose both of recapitulation and illustration, and of giving the reader a more commodious opportunity of surveying at leisure, from this intermediate point of view, and under one comprehensive detail, a connected display of the materials and original subjects of many of our past and future poets.

Indeed, in the times with which we are now about to be con∣cerned, it seems to have been growing more into esteem. At the commencement of typography, Wynkyn de Worde pub∣lished this book in English. This translation wasre printed, by one Robinson, in 1577. And afterwards, of the same transla∣tion there were six impressions before the year 1601 d 1.4. There is an edition in black letter so late as the year 1689. About the year 1596, an English version appeared of

"Epitomes des cent HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES, partie extraictes des ACTES DE•• ROMAINS et autres, &c."

From the popularity, or rather familiarity, of this work in the reign of queen Elisabeth, the title of GESTA GRAYORUM was affixed to the history of the acts of the Christmas Prince at Grays-inn, in 1594 e 1.5. In Sir GILES GOOSECAP, an anonymous comedy, presented by the Children of the Chapel in the year 1606, we have,

"Then for your lordship's quips and quick jests, why GESTA RO∣MANORUM were nothing to them f 1.6."

And in George Chap∣man's MAY-DAY, a comedy, printed at London in 1611, a man of the highest literary taste for the pieces in vogue is characterised,

"One that has read Marcus Aurelius, GESTA RO∣MANORUM, the Mirrour of Magistrates, &c.—to be led by the nose like a blind beare that has read nothing g 1.7!"

The critics and collectors in black-letter, I believe, could produce many other proofs.

The GESTA ROMANORUM were first printed without date, but as it is supposed before or about the year 1473, in folio, with this title, Incipiunt HISTORIE NOTABILES collecte ex GESTIS ROMANORUM et quibusdam aliis libris cum applicationibus eorundem h 1.8. This edition has one hundred and fifty-two chapters, or GESTS, and one hundred and seventeen leaves i 1.9. It is in the Gothic letter, and in two columns. The first chapter is of king Pompey, and the last of prince, or king, Cleonicus. The initials are written in red and blue ink. Thi•• ••dition, slightly mutilated, is among bishop Tanner's printed books in the Bod∣leian library. The reverend and learned doctor Farmer, master of Emanuel college in Cambridge, has the second edition, as it seems, printed at Louvain, in quarto, the same or the subse∣quent year, by John de Westfalia, under the title, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM HISTORIE NOTABILES de viciis virtutibusque tractantes cum applicationibus moralisatis et mysticis. And with this colophon, GESTA ROMANORUM cum quibusdam aliis HIS∣TORIIS eisdem annexis ad MORALITATES dilucide redacta hic finem habent. Quae, diligenter correctis aliorum viciis, impressit Joannes de Westfalia in alma Vniversitate Louvaniensi. It has one hundred and eighty-one chapters k 1.10. That is, twenty-nine more than are contained in the former edition: the first of the addi∣tional chapters being the story of Antiochus, or the substance of the romance of APOLLONIUS of TYRE. The initials are inserted

in red ink l 1.11. Another followed soon afterwards, in quarto, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM Historie notabiles moralizatae, per Gi∣rardum Lieu, GOUDAE, 1480. The next edition, with the use of which I have been politely favoured by George Mason esquire, of Aldenham-Lodge in Hertfordshire, was printed in folio, and in the year 1488, with this title, GESTA RHOMA∣NORUM cum Applicationibus moralisatis et misticis. The colophon is, Ex GESTIS ROMANORUM cum pluribus applicatis Historiis de virtutibus et viciis mystice ad intellectum transsumptis Recollectorii finis. Anno nre salutis MCCCCLXXX viij kalendas vero februarii xviij. A general, and alphabetical, table, are subjoined. The book, which is printed in two columns, and in the Gothic cha∣racter, abounding with abbreviations, contains ninety-three leaves. The initials are written or flourished in red and blue, and all the capitals in the body of the text are miniated with a pen. There were many other later editions m 1.12. I must add, that the GESTA ROMANORUM were translated into Dutch, so early as the year 1484. There is an old French version in the British Museum.

This work is compiled from the obsolete Latin chronicles of the later Roman or rather German story, heightened by roman∣tic inventions, from Legends of the Saints, oriental apologues, and many of the shorter fictitious narratives which came into Europe with the Arabian literature, and were familiar in the ages of ignorance and imagination. The classics are sometimes cited for authorities; but these are of the lower order, such as Valerius Maximus, Macrobius, Aulus Gallius, Seneca, Pliny, and Boethius. To every tale a MORALISATION is subjoined, reducing it into a christian or moral lesson.

Most of the oriental apologues are taken from the CLERICA∣LIS DISCIPLINA, or a latin Dialogue between an Arabian Philo••opher

and Edricn 1.13 his son, never printed o 1.14, written by Peter Al∣phonsus, a baptized Jew, at the beginning of the twelfth cen∣tury, and collected from Arabian fables, apothegms, and ex∣amples p 1.15. Some are also borrowed from an old Latin translation of the CALILAH U DAMNAH, a celebrated sett of eastern fables, to which Alphonsus was indebted.

On the whole, this is the collection in which a curious enquirer might expect to find the original of Chaucer's Cam∣buscan:

Or,—if aught else great bards beside In sage and solemn tunes have sung, Of turneys and of trophies hung, Of forests and inchantments drear, Where more is meant than meets the ear q 1.16.

Our author frequently cites GESTA ROMANORUM, the title of his own work. By which I understand no particular book of that name, but the Roman History in general. Thus in the title of the SAINT ALBANS CHRONICLE, printed by Caxton, Titus Livyus de GESTIS ROMANORUM is recited. In the year 1544, Lucius Florus was printed at Paris under the same title r 1.17. In the British Museum we find

"LES FAIS DE ROMAINS jusques a la ••in de l' empire Domician, selon Orose, Justin, Lucan, &c."

A plain historical deduction s 1.18. The ROMULEON, an old manuscript history of Rome from the foundation of the city to Constantine the Great, is also called de GESTIS ROMANORUM. This manuscript occurs both in Latin and French: and a French copy, among the royal man••scripts,

has the title,

"ROMULEON, ou des FAIS DE RO∣MAINS t 1.19."

Among the manuscript books written by Lapus de Castellione, a Florentine civilian, who flourished about the year 1350, there is one, De Origine URBIS ROMAE et de GESTIS ROMANORUM u 1.20. Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS, often introduces Roman stories with the Latin preamble, Hic secundum GESTA. Where he certainly means the Roman History, which by degrees had acquired simply the appellation of GESTA. Herman Korner, in his CHRONICA NOVELLA, written about the year 1438, refers for his vouchers to Bede, Orosius, Vale∣rius Maximus, Josephus, Eusebius, and the Chronicon et GESTA ROMANORUM. Most probably, to say no more, by the CHRO∣NICON he means the later writers of the Roman affairs, such as Isidore and the monkish compilers; and by GESTA the antient Roman history, as related by Livy and the more established Latin historians.

Neither is it possible that this work could have been brought as a proof or authority, by any serious annalist, for the Roman story.

For though it bears the title of GESTA ROMANORUM, yet this title by no means properly corresponds with the contents of the collection: which, as has been already hinted, comprehends a multitude of narratives, either not historical; or, in another respect, such as are either totally unconnected with the Roman people, or perhaps the most preposterous misrepresentations of their history. To cover this deviation from the promised plan, which, by introducing a more ample variety of matter, has contributed to encrease the reader's entertainment, our col∣lector has taken care to preface almost every story with the name or reign of a Roman emperor; who, at the same time, is often a monarch that never existed, and who seldom, whether real or suppositious, has any concern with the circumstances of the narrative.

But I hasten to exhibit a compendious analysis of the chap∣ters which form this very singular compilation: intermixing occasional illustrations arising from the subject, and shortening or lengthening my abridgement of the stories, in proportion as I judge they are likely to interest the reader. Where, for that reason, I have been very concise, I have yet said enough to direct the critical antiquarian to this collection, in case he should find a similar tale occurring in any of our old poets. I have omitted the mention of a very few chapters, which were beneath notice. Sometimes, where common authors are quoted, I have only mentioned the author's name, without specifying the substance of the quotation. For it was necessary that the reader should be made acquainted with our collector's track of reading, and the books which he used. In the mean time, this review will serve as a full notification of the edition of 1488, which is more comprehensive and complete than some others of later publication, and to which all the rest, as to a general criterion, may be now comparatively referred.

CHAP. i. Of a daughter of king Pompey, whose chamber was guarded by five armed knights and a dog. Being permitted to be present at a public shew, she is ••educed by a duke, who is afterwards killed by the champion of her father's court. She is reconciled to her father, and betrothed to a nobleman: on which occasion, sh•• receives from her father an embroidered robe and a crown of gold, from the champion a gold ring, ano∣ther from the wise man who pacified the king's anger, another from the king's son, another from her cousin, and from her spouse a seal of gold. All these presents are inscribed with pro∣verbial sentences, suitable to the circumstances of the princess.

The latter part of this story is evidently oriental. The feudal manners, in a book which professes to record the achievements of the Roman people, are remarkable in the introductory cir∣cumstances. But of this mixture we shall see many striking instances.

CHAP. ii. Of a youth taken captive by pirates. The king's

daughter falls in love with him; and having procured his escape, accompanies him to his own country, where they are married.

CHAP. vi. An emperor is married to a beautiful young prin∣cess. In case of death, they mutually agree not to survive one other. To try the truth of his wife, the emperor going into a distant country, orders a report of his death to be circulated. In remembrance of her vow, and in imitation of the wives of India, she prepares to throw herself headlong from a high pre∣cipice. She is prevented by her father; who interposes his pa∣ternal authority, as predominating over a rash and unlawful promise.

CHAP. vii. Under the reign of Dioclesian, a noble knight had two sons, the youngest of which marries a harlot.

This story, but with a difference of circumstances, ends like the beautiful apologue of the Prodigal Son.

CHAP. viii. The emperor Leo commands three female sta∣tues to be made. One has a gold ring on a finger pointing for∣ward, another a beard of gold, and the third a golden cloak and purple tunic. Whoever steals any of these ornaments, is to be punished with an ignominious death.

This story is copied by Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMAN∣TIS: but he has altered some of the circumstances. He sup∣poses a statue of Apollo.

Of plate of golde a berde he hadde, The wiche his brest all ovir spradde: Of golde also, without fayle, His mantell was, of large entayle, Besette with perrey all aboute: Forth ryght he straught his fynger oute, Upon the whiche he had a rynge, To seen it was a ryche thynge, A fyne carbuncle for the nones Moste precious of all stones w 1.21.

In the sequel, Gower follows the substance of our author.

CHAP. x. Vespasian marries a wife in a distant country, who refuses to return home with him, and yet declares she will kill herself if he goes. The emperor ordered two rings to be made, of a wonderous efficacy; one of which, in the stone, has the image of Oblivion, the other the image of Memory: the ring of Oblivion he gave to the empress, and returned home with the ring of Memory.

CHAP. xi. The queen of the south sends her daughter to king Alexander, to be his concubine. She was exceedingly beautiful, but had been nourished with poison from her birth. Alexander's master, Aristotle, whose sagacity nothing could escape, knowing this, entreated, that before she was admitted to the king's bed, a malefactor condemned to death might be sent for, who should give her a kiss in the presence of the king. The malefactor, on kissing her, instantly dropped down dead. Aristotle, having explained his reasons for what he had done, was loaded with honours by the king, and the princess was dismissed to her mother.

This story is founded on the twenty-eighth chapter of Aris∣totle's SECRETUM SECRETORUM: in which, a queen of India is said to have treacherously sent to Alexander, among other costly presents, the pretended testimonies of her friendship, a girl of exquisite beauty, who having been fed with serpents from her infancy, partook of their nature y 1.22. If I recollect right, in Pliny there are accounts of nations whose natural food was poison. Mithridates, king of Pontus, the land of venomous herbs, and the country of the sorceress Medea, was supposed to

eat poison. Sir John Maundeville's Travels, I believe, will afford other instances.

CHAP. xii. A profligate priest, in the reign of the emperor Otto, or Otho, walking in the fields, and neglecting to say mass, is reformed by a vision of a comely old man.

CHAP. xiii. An empress having lost her husband, becomes so doatingly fond of her only son, then three years of age, as not to bear his absence for a moment. They sleep together every night, and when he was eighteen years of age, she proves with child by him. She murthers the infant, and her left hand is immediately marked with four circles of blood. Her repentance is related, in consequence of a vision of the holy virgin.

This story is in the SPECULUM HISTORIALE of Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about the year 1250 z 1.23.

CHAP. xiv. Under the reign of the emperor Dorotheus, a remarkable example of the filial piety of a young man, who redeems his father, a knight, from captivity.

CHAP. xv. Eufemian, a nobleman in the court of the em∣peror of Rome, is attended by three thousand servants girt with golden belts, and cloathed in silken vestments. His house was crouded with pilgrims, orphans, and widows, for whom three tables were kept every day. He has a son, Allexius; who quits his father's palace, and lives unknown seventeen years in a monastery in Syria. He then returns, and lives seventeen years undiscovered as a pilgrim in his father's family, where he suf∣fers many indignities from the servants.

Allexius, or Alexis, was canonised. This story is taken from his Legend a 1.24. In the metrical Lives of the Saints, his life is told in a sort of measure different from that of the rest, and not very common in the earlier stages of our poetry. It begins thus.

Lesteneth alle and herkeneth me, Ʒonge and olde, bonde and fre,

And ich ʒow telle sone, How a ʒought man, gent and fre, By gan this worldis wele to fle, Y born he was in Rome.

In Rome was a doʒty man That was y cleped Eufemian, Man of moche myʒte; Gold and seluer he hadde ynouʒ, Hall and boures, oxse and plouʒ, And swith wel it dyʒte.

When Alexius returns home in disguise, and asks his father about his son, the father's feelings are thus described.

So sone so he spake of his sone, The guode man, as was his wone, Gan to sike sore b 1.25; His herte felc 1.26 so colde so ston, The teres felle to his ton d 1.27, On her berd hore.

At his burial, many miracles are wrought on the sick.

With mochel siʒt e 1.28, and mochel song, That holy cors, hem alle among, Bischoppis to cherche bere.

Amyddes riʒt the heʒe strete f 1.29, So moche folke hym gone mete That they resten a stonde, All the sikeg 1.30 that to him come, I heled wer swithe sone Of feth 1.31 and eke of honde:

The blinde come to harei 1.32 siʒt, The croked gonne sone riʒt k 1.33, The lame for to go: That dombe wer fongel 1.34 speeche, Theʒ heredem 1.35 god the sothe leche n 1.36, And that halweo 1.37 also.

The day ʒede and drouʒ to nyʒt, No lenger dwellep 1.38 they ne myʒt, To cherche they moste wende; The bellen they gonne to rynge, The clerkes heʒeq 1.39 to synge, Everich in his ende r 1.40.

Tho the corse to cherche com Glad they wer everichon That there ycure wer, The pope and the emperour By fore an auter of seynt Savour Ther sette they the bere.

Aboute the bere was moche liʒt With proude palle was bediʒt, I beten al with golde s 1.41.

The history of Saint Alexius is told entirely in the same words in the GESTA ROMANORUM, and in the LEGENDA AUREA of Jacobus de Voragine f 1.42, translated, through a French medium, by Caxton. This work of Jacobus does not consist

solely of th•• legends of the saints, but is interspersed with multis aliis pulcherrimis et peregrinis historiis, with many other most beautiful and strange histories t 1.43.

CHAP. xvi. A Roman emperor in digging for the foundation of a new palace, finds a golden sarcophagus, or coffin, inscribed with mysterious words and sentences. Which being explained, prove to be so many moral lessons of instruction for the em∣peror's future conduct.

CHAP. xvii. A poor man named Guido, engages to serve an emperor of Rome in six several capacities, or employments. One of these services is, to shew the best way to the holy land. Acquitting himself in all with singular address and fidelity, he is made a knight, and loaded with riches.

CHAP. xviii. A knight named Julian is hunting a stag, who turns and says,

"you will kill your father and mother."

On this he went into a distant country, where he married a rich Lady of a castle. Julian's father and mother travelled into va∣rious lands to find their son, and at length accidentally came to this castle, in his absence; where telling their story to the lady, who had heard it from her husband, she discovered who they were, and gave them her own bed to sleep in. Early in the morning, while she was at mass in the chapel, her husband Julian unexpectedly returned; and entering his wife's chamber, perceived two persons in the bed, whom he immediately slew with his sword, hastily supposing them to be his wife and her adulterer. At leaving the chamber, he met his wife coming from the cha∣pel; and with great astonishment asked her, who the persons were sleeping in her bed? She answered,

"They are your parents, who have been seeking you so long, and whom I have honoured with a place in our own bed."

Afterwards they founded a sumptuous hospital for the accommodation of travellers, on the banks of a dangerous river.

This story is told in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE u 1.44, and in

the metrical Lives of the Saints w 1.45. Hence Julian, or Saint Julian, was called hospitator, or the gode herberjour; and the Pater Noster became famous, which he used to say for the souls of his father and mother whom he had thus unfortunately killed x 1.46. The peculiar excellencies of this prayer are displayed by Boc∣cace y 1.47. Chaucer speaking of the hospitable disposition of his FRANKELEIN, says,

Saint Julian he was in his own countre z 1.48.

This history is, like the last, related by our compiler, in the words of Julian's Legend, as it stands in Jacobus de Voragine a 1.49. Bollandus has inserted Antoninus's account of this saint, which appears also to be literally the same b 1.50. It is told, yet not exactly in the same words, by Vincent of Beauvais c 1.51.

I take this opportunity of observing, that the Legends of the the Saints, so frequently referred to in the GESTA ROMA∣NORUM, often contain high strokes of fancy, both in the structure and decorations of the story. That they should abound in extravagant conceptions, may be partly accounted for, from the superstitious and visionary cast of the writer: but the truth is, they derive this complexion from the east. Some were originally forged by monks of the Greek church, to whom the oriental fictions and mode of fabling were familiar. The more early of the Latin lives were carried over to Constantinople, where they were translated into Greek with new embellishments of eastern imagination. These being returned into Europe, were translated into Latin, where they naturally superseded the old Latin arche∣types. Others of the Latin lives contracted this tincture, from being written after the Arabian literature became common in Europe. The following ideas in the Life of Saint Pelagian

evidently betray their original.

"As the bysshop sange masse in the cyte of Usanance, he saw thre dropes ryghte clere all of one gratenesse whiche were upon the aulter, and al thre ranne to gyder in to a precyous gemme: and whan they had set thys gemme in a crosse of golde, al the other precyous stones that were there, fyllend 1.52 out, and thys gemme was clere to them that were clene out of synne, and it was obscure and darke to synners e 1.53, &c."

The peculiar cast of romantic inven∣tion was admirably suited to serve the purposes of superstition.

Possevin, a learned Jesuit, who wrote about the close of the sixteenth century, complains, that for the last five hundred years the courts of all the princes in Europe had been infatuated by reading romances: and that, in his time, it was a mark of in∣elegance, not to be familiarly acquainted with Lancelot du Lake, Perceforest, Tristan, Giron the Courteous, Amadis de Gaul, Primaleon, Boccace's Decameron, and Ariosto. He even goes so far as to say, that the devil instigated Luther to procure a transla∣tion of Amadis from Spanish into French, for the purpose of facilitating his grand scheme of overthrowing the catholic reli∣gion. The popularity of this book, he adds, warped the minds of the French nation from their antient notions and studies; introduced a neglect of the scriptures, and propagated a love for astrology, and other fantastic arts f 1.54. But with the leave of this zealous catholic I would observe, that this sort of reading was likely to produce, if any, an effect quite contrary. The genius of romance and of popery was the same; and both were strengthened by the reciprocation of a similar spirit of cre∣dulity. The dragons and the castles of the one, were of a piece with the visions and pretended miracles of the other. The ridiculous theories of false and unsolid science, which, by the way, had been familiarised to the French by other ro∣mances, long before the translation of Amadis, were surely more likely to be advanced under the influence of a religion founded on

deception, than in consequence of Luther's reformed system, which aimed at purity and truth, and which was to gain its end by the suppression of antient prejudices.

Many of the absurdities of the catholic worship were per∣haps, as I have hinted, in some degree necessary in the early ages of the church, on account of the ignorance of the people; at least, under such circumstances they were natural, and there∣fore excusable. But when the world became wiser, those mum∣meries should have been abolished, for the same reason that the preachers left off quoting Esop's fables in their sermons, and the stage ceased to instruct the people in the scripture-history by the representation of the MYSTERIES. The advocates of the pa∣pal communion do not consider, that in a cultivated age, abound∣ing with every species of knowledge, they continue to retain those fooleries which were calculated only for christians in a con∣dition of barbarism, and of which the use now no longer subsists.

CHAP. xix. When Julius Cesar was preparing to pass the Rubicon, a gigantic spectre appeared from the middle of the river, threatening to interrupt his passage, if he came not to establish the peace of Rome. Our author cites the GESTA ROMANORUM for this story.

It was impossible that the Roman history could pass through the dark ages, without being infected with many romantic cor∣ruptions. Indeed, the Roman was almost the only antient history, which the readers of those ages knew: and what re∣lated even to pagan Rome, the parent of the more modern papal metropolis of christianity, was regarded with a supersti∣tious veneration, and often magnified with miraculous additions.

CHAP. xx. The birth of the emperor Henry, son of earl Leopold, and his wonderful preservation from the stratagems of the emperor Conrade, till his accession to the imperial throne.

This story is told by Caxton in the GOLDEN LEGENDE, under the life of Pelagian the pope, entitled, Here foloweth the lyf of Saynt Pelagyen the pope, with many other hystoryes and

gestys of the Lombardes, and of Machomete, with other cronycles g 1.55. The GESTA LONGOBARDORUM are fertile in legendary matter, and furnished Jacobus de Voragine, Caxton's original, with many marvellous histories h 1.56. Caxton, from the gestes of the Lombardis, gives a wonderful account of a pestilence in Italy, under the reign of king Gilbert i 1.57.

There is a LEGENDA SANCTORUM, ••ive HISTORIA LOM∣BARDICA, printed in 1483. This very uncommon book is not mentioned by Maittaire. It has this colophon.

"Expli∣ciunt quorundam Sanctorum Legende adjuncte post Lom∣bardicam historiam. Impressa Argentine, M. CCCC. LXXXIII k 1.58."

That is, the latter part of the book contains a few Saints not in the history of the Lombards, which forms the first part. I have neither time nor inclination to examine whether this is Jacobus's LEGENDA: but I believe it to be the same. I think I have seen an older edition of the work, at Cologne 1470 l 1.59.

I have observed that Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE is taken from Jacobus de Voragine. This perhaps is not precisely true. Caxton informs us in his first preface to the first edition of 1483 m 1.60, that he had in his possession a Legend in French, ano∣ther in Latin, and a third in English, which varied from the other two in many places: and that MANY HISTORIES were contained in the English collection, which did not occur in the French and Latin. Therefore, says he,

"I have wryton ON•• OUTE of the sayd three bookes: which I have orderyd other∣wyse than in the sayd Englysshe Legende, which was so to fore made."

Caxton's English original might have been the old METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS.

CHAP. xxi. A story from Justin, concerning a conspiracy of the Spartans against their king.

CHAP. xxii. How the Egyptians deified Isis and Osiris. From saint Austin. As is the following chapter.

CHAP. xxiv. Of a magician and his delicious garden, which he shews only to fools and to his enemies.

CHAP. xxv. Of a lady who keeps the staff and scrip of a stranger, who rescued her from the oppressions of a tyrant: but being afterwards courted by three kings, she destroys those memorials of her greatest benefactor.

CHAP. xxvi. An emperor, visiting the holy land, commits his daughter and his favorite dog, who is very fierce, to the custody of five knights, under the superintendance of his sene∣shall. The seneshall neglects his charge: the knights are obliged to quit their post for want of necessaries; and the dog, being fed with the provisions assigned to the knights, grows fiercer, breaks his three chains, and kills the lady who was per∣mitted to wander at large in her father's hall. When the em∣peror returns, the seneshall is thrown into a burning furnace.

CHAP. xxviii. The old woman and her little dog.

CHAP. xxx. The three honours and three dishonours, decreed by a certain king to every conqueror returning from war.

CHAP. xxxi. The speeches of the philosophers on seeing king Alexander's golden sepulchre.

CHAP. xxxiii. A man had three trees in his garden, on which his three wives successively hanged themselves. Another begs an offset from each of the trees, to be planted in the gardens of his married neighbours. From Valerius Maximus, who is cited.

CHAP. xxxiv. Aristotle's seven rules to his pupil Alexander.

This, I think, is from the SECRETA SECRETORUM. Aris∣totle, for two reasons, was a popular character in the dark ages. He was the father of their philosophy: and had been the pre∣ceptor of Alexander the Great, one of the principal heroes of romance. No•• was Aristotle himself without his romantic history; in which he falls in love with a queen of Greece, who quickly confutes his subtlest syllogisms.

CHAP. xxxv. The GESTA ROMANORUM cited, for the cus∣tom among the antient Romans of killing a lamb for pacifying quarrels.

CHAP. xxxvi. Of a king who desires to know the nature of man. Solinus, de MIRABILIBUS MUNDI, is here quoted.

CHAP. xxxvii. Pliny's account of the stone which the eagle places in her nest, to avoid the poison of a serpent.

CHAP. xxxix. Julius Cesar's mediation between two brothers. From the GESTA ROMANORUM.

We must not forget, that there was the Romance of JULIUS CESAR. And I believe Antony and Cleopatra were more known characters in the dark ages, than is commonly supposed. Shakespeare is thought to have formed his play on this story from North's translation of Amyot's unauthentic French Plu∣tarch, published at London in 1579. Montfaucon, among the manuscripts of monsieur Lancelot, recites an old piece written about the year 1500,

"LA VIE ET FAIS DE MARC ANTOINE le triumvir et de sa mie CLEOPATRA, translatè de l' historien Plutarque pour tres illustre haute et puissante dame Madame Françoise de Fouez Dame de Châteaubriand n 1.61."

I know not whether t••is piece was ever printed. At least it shews, that the story was familiar at a more early period than is imagined; and leads us to suspect, that there might have been other mate∣rials used by Shakespeare on this subject, than those hitherto pointed out by his commentators.

That Amyot's French version of Plutarch should contain corruptions and innovations, will easily be conceived, when it is remembered that he probably translated from an old Italian version o 1.62. A new exhibition in English of the French caricature

of this most valuable biographer by North, must have stil•• more widely extended the deviation from the original.

CHAP. xl. The infidelity of a wife proved by feeling her pulse in conversation. From Macrobius.

CHAP. xlii. Valerius Maximus is cited, concerning a column at Rome inscribed with four letters four times written.

CHAP. xliv. Tiberius orders a maker of ductile glass, which could not be broken, to be beheaded, le••t it should become more valuable than silver and gold.

This piece of history, which appears also in Cornelius Aggrippa DE VANITATE SCIENTIARUM q 1.63, is taken from Pliny, or rather from his transcriber Isidore p 1.64. Pliny, in relating this story, says, that the temperature of glass, so as to render it flexible, was discovered under the reign of Tiberius.

In the same chapter Pliny observes, that glass is susceptible of all colours.

"Fit et album, et murrhinum, aut hyacinthos sapphirosque imitatum, et omnibus aliis coloribus. Nec est alia nunc materia sequacior, aut etiam PICTURAE ACCOMMO∣DATIOR. Maximus tamen honor in candido r 1.65."

But the Romans, as the last sentence partly proves, probably never used any coloured glass for windows. The first notice of windows of a church made of coloured glass occurs in chronicles quoted by Muratori. In the year 802, a pope built a church at Rome, and,

"fenestras ex vitro diversis coloribus conclusit atque deco∣ravit s 1.66."

And in 856, he produces

"fenestras vero vitreis coloribus, &c t 1.67."

This however was a sort of mosaic in glass. To express figures in glass, or what we now call the art of

painting in glass, was a very different work: and, I believe, I can shew it was brought from Constantinople to Rome before the tenth century, with other ornamental arts. Guiccardini, who wrote about 1560, in his Descrittione de tutti Paesi Bassi, ascribes the invention of baking colours in glass for church∣windows to the Netherlanders u 1.68: but he does not mention the period, and I think he must be mistaken. It is certain that this art owed much to the laborious and mechanical genius of the Germans; and, in particular, their deep researches and ex∣periments in chemistry, which they cultivated in the dark ages with the most indefatigable assiduity, must have greatly assisted its operations. I could give very early anecdotes of this art in England. But, with the careless haste of a lover, I am antici∣pating what I have to say of it in my HISTORY OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND.

CHAP. xlv. A king leaves four sons by his wife, only one which is lawfully begotten. They have a contest for the throne. The dispute is referred to the deceased king's secretary, who orders the body to be taken from the tomb; and decrees, that the son who can shoot an arrow deepest into it shall be king. The first wounds the king's right hand: the second his mouth: the third his heart. The last wound is supposed to be the suc∣cessful one. At length the fourth, approaching the body, cried out with a lamentable voice,

"Far be it from me to wound my father's body!"

In consequence of this speech, he is pro∣nounced by the nobles and people present to be the true heir, and placed on the throne.

CHAP. xlviii. Dionysius is quoted for the story of Perillus's brasen bull.

Gower in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS has this story; which he prefaces by saying that he found it in a Cronike w 1.69. In Caxton's Golden Legende, Macrobius is called a chronicle.

"Macrobius sayth in a cronike x 1.70."

Chronicles are naturally the first efforts

of the literature of a barbarous age. The writers, if any, of those periods are seldom equal to any thing more than a bare narration of facts: and such sort of matter is suitable to the taste and capa∣city of their cotemporary readers. A further proof of the prin∣ciples advanced in the beginning of this Dissertation.

CHAP. xlix. The duchess Rosmilla falls in love with Conan, king of Hungary, whom she sees from the walls of the city of Foro-Juli, which he is besieging. She has four sons and two daughters. She betrays the city to Conan, on condition that he will marry her the next day. Conan, a barbarian, exe∣cuted the contract; but on the third day exposed her to his whole army, saying,

"such a wife deserves such a husband."

Paulus, that is, Paulus Diaconus, the historian of the Longo∣bards is quoted. He was chancellor of Desiderius, the last king of the Lombards; with whom he was taken captive by Charlemagne. The history here referred to is entitled GESTA LONGOBARDORUM y 1.71.

CHAP. l. From Valerius Maximus.

CHAP. li. From Josephus.

CHAP. lii. From Valerius Maximus.

CHAP. liii. From the same.

CHAP. liv. The emperor Frederick's marble portico near Capua.

I wonder there are not more romances extant on the lives of the Roman emp••rors of Germany; many of whom, to say no more, were famous in the crusades. There is a romance in old German rhyme, called TEUERDANK, on Maximilian the first, written by Melchior Pfinzing his chaplain. Printed at Nurem∣berg in 1517 z 1.72.

CHAP. lv. Of a king who has one son exceedingly beautiful, and four daughters, named Justice, Truth, Mercy, and Peace.

CHAP. lvi. A nobleman invited a merchant to his castle, whom he met accordingly upon the road. At entering the castle, the merchant was astonished at the magnificence of the chambers, which were overlaid with gold. At supper, the nobleman placed the merchant next to his wife, who imme∣diately shewed evident tokens of being much struck with her beauty. The table was covered with the richest dainties; but while all were served in golden dishes, a pittance of meat was placed before the lady in a dish made out of a human scull. The merchant was surprised and terrified at this strange spec∣tacle. At length he was conducted to bed in a fair chamber•• where, when left alone, he observed a glimmering lamp in a nook or corner of the room, by which he discovered two dead bodies hung up by the arms. He was now filled with the most horrible apprehensions, and could not sleep all the night. When he rose in the morning, he was asked by the nobleman how he liked his entertainment? He answered,

"There is plenty of every thing; but the scull prevented me from eating at sup∣per, and the two dead bodies which I saw in my chamber from sleeping. With your leave therefore I will depart."

The nobleman answered,

"My friend, you observed the beauty of my wife. The scull which you saw placed before her at supper, was the head of a duke, whom I detected in her embraces, and which I cut off with my own sword. As a memorial of her crime, and to teach her modest behaviour, her adulterer's scull is made to serve for her dish. The bodies of the two young men hanging in the chamber are my two kinsmen, who were murthered by the son of the duke. To keep up my sense of revenge for their blood, I visit their dead bodies every day. Go in peace, and remember to judge nothing without knowing the truth."

Caxton has the history of Albione, a king of the Lombards, who having conquered another king,

"lade awaye wyth hym

Rosamounde his wyf in captyvyte, but after he took hyr to hys wyf, and he dyde do make a cuppe of the skulle of that kynge and closed in fyne golde and sylver, and dranke out of it a 1.73."

This, by the way, is the story of the old Italian tragedy of Messer Giovanni Rucellai planned on the model of the antients, and acted in the Rucellai gardens at Florence, be∣fore Leo the tenth and his court, in the year 1516 b 1.74. Davenant has also a tragedy on the same subject, called ALBOVINE king of the Lombards his Tragedy.

A most sanguinary scene in Shakespeare's TITUS ADRONI∣CUS, an incident in Dryden's, or Boccace's, TANCRED and SIGISMONDA, and the catastrophe of the beautiful metrical romance of the LADY of FAGUEL, are founded on the same horrid ideas of inhuman retaliation and savage revenge: but in the two last pieces, the circumstances are so ingeniously ima∣gined, as to lose a considerable degree of their atrocity, and to be productive of the most pathetic and interesting situations.

CHAP. lvii. The enchanter Virgil places a magical image in the middle of Rome c 1.75, which communicates to the emperor Titus all the secret offences committed every day in the city d 1.76.

This story is in the old black-lettered history of the necro∣mancer Virgil, in Mr. Garrick's collection.

Vincent of Beauvais relates many wonderful things, mirabiliter actitata, done by the poet Virgil, whom he represents as a ma∣gician. Among others, he says, that Virgil fabricated those brazen statues at Rome, called Salvacio Romae, which were the gods of the Provinces conquered by the Romans. Every one of these statues held in its hand a bell framed by magic; and

when any province was meditating a revolt, the statue, or idol, of that country struck his bell e 1.77. This fiction is mentioned by the old anonymous author of the MIRABILIA ROMAE, written in the thirteenth century, and printed by Montfaucon f 1.78. It occurs in Lydgate's BOCHAS. He is speaking of the Pantheon.

Whyche was a temple of old foundacion, Ful of ydols, up set on hye stages; There throughe the worlde of every nacion Were of theyr goddes set up great ymages, To every kingdom direct were their visages, As poetes and Fulgensg 1.79 by hys live In bokes olde plainly doth dyscrive.

Every ymage had in his hande a bell, As apperteyneth to every nacion, Which, by craft some token should tell Whan any kingdom fil in rebellion, &c h 1.80.

This fiction is not in Boccace, Lydgate's original. It is in the above-cited Gothic history of Virgil. Gower's Virgil, I think, belongs to the same romance.

And eke Virgil of acqueintance I sigh, where he the maiden prayd, Which was the doughter, as men sayd, Of the emperour whilom of Rome i 1.81.

CHAP. lviii. King Asmodeus pardons every malefactor con∣demned to death, who can tell three indisputable truths or maxims.

CHAP. lix. The emperor Jovinian's history.

On this there is an antient French MORALITE, entitled, L'Orgueil et pre••omption de l'Empereur JOVINIAN k 1.82. This is also the story of ROBERT king of Sicily, an old English poem, or romance, from which I have given copious extracts l 1.83.

CHAP. lx. A king has a daughter named Rosimund, aged ten years; exceedingly beautiful, and so swift of foot, that her father promises her in marriage to any man who can overcome her in running. But those who fail in the attempt are to lose their heads. After many trials, in which she was always victo∣rious, she loses the race with a poor man, who throws in her way a silken girdle, a garland of roses, and a silken purse in∣closing a golden ball, inscribed,

"whoso plays with me will never be satiated with play."

She marries the poor man, who inherits her father's kingdom.

This is evidently a Gothic innovation of the classical tale of Atalanta. But it is not impossible that an oriental apologue might have given rise to the Grecian fable.

CHAP. lxi. The emperor Claudius marries his daughter to the philosopher Socrates.

CHAP. lxii. Florentina's picture.

CHAP. lxiii. Vespasian's daughter's garden. All her lovers are obliged to enter this garden before they can obtain her love, but none return alive. The garden is haunted by a lion; and has only one entrance, which divides into so many windings, that it never can be found again. At length, she furnishes a knight with a ball or clue of thread, and teaches him how to foil the lion. Having achieved this adventure, he marries the lady.

Here seems to be an allusion to Medea's history.

CHAP. lxiv. A virgin is married to a king, because she makes him a shirt of a piece of cloth three fingers long and broad.

CHAP. lxv. A cross with four inscriptions.

CHAP. lxvi. A knight offers to recover a lady's inheritance, which had been seized by a tyrant; on condition, that if he is slain, she shall always keep his bloody armour hanging in her chamber. He regains her property, although he dies in the attempt; and as often as she was afterwards fued for in marriage, before she gave an answer, she returned to her chamber, and contemplating with tears her deliverer's bloody armour, resolutely rejected every sollicitation.

CHAP. lxvii. The wise and foolish knight.

CHAP. lxviii. A woman understands the language of birds. The three cocks.

CHAP. lxix. A mother gives to a man who marries her daughter a shirt, which can never be torn, nor will ever need washing, while they continue faithful to each other.

CHAP. lxx. The king's daughter who requires three impossi∣ble things of her lovers.

CHAP. lxxii. The king who resigns his crown to his son.

CHAP. lxxiv. The golden apple.

CHAP. lxxv. A king's three daughters marry three dukes, who all die the same year.

CHAP. lxxvi. The two physicians.

CHAP. lxxix. The fable of the familiar ass.

CHAP. lxxx. A devout hermit lived in a cave, near which a shepherd folded his flock. Many of the sheep being stolen, the shepherd was unjustly killed by his master as being con∣cerned in the theft. The hermit seeing an innocent man put to death, began to suspect the existence of a divine Providence; and resolved no longer to perplex himself with the useless seve∣ties of religion, but to mix in the world. In travelling from his retirement, he was met by an angel in the figure of a man; who said,

"I am an angel, and am sent by God to be your companion on the road."

They entered a city; and begged for lodging at the house of a knight, who entertained them at a splendid supper. In the night, the angel rose from his bed, and strangled the knight's only child who was asleep in the

cradle. The hermit was astonished at this barbarous return for so much hospitality, but was afraid to make any remonstrance to his companion. Next morning they went to another city. Here they were liberally received in the house of an opulent citizen; but in the night the angel rose, and stole a golden cup of inestimable value. The hermit now concluded, that his companion was a Bad Angel. In travelling forward the next morning, they passed over a bridge; about the middle of which they met a poor man, of whom the angel asked the way to the next city. Having received the desired information, the angel pushed the poor man into the water, where he was immediately drowned. In the evening they arrived at the house of a rich man; and begging for a lodging, were ordered to sleep in a shed with the cattle. In the morning the angel gave the rich man the cup which he had stolen. The hermit, amazed that the cup which was stolen from their friend and bene∣factor should be given to one who refused them a lodging, began to be now convinced that his companion was the devil; and begged to go on alone. But the angel said,

"Hear me, and depart. When you lived in your hermitage a shepherd was killed by his master. He was innocent of the supposed offence: but had he not been then killed, he would have committed crimes in which he would have died impenitent. His master endeavours to atone for the murther, by dedicating the remainder of his days to alms and deeds of charity. I strangled the child of the knight. But know, that the father was so intent on heaping up riches for this child, as to ne∣glect those acts of public munificence for which he was be∣fore so distinguished, and to which he has now returned. I stole the golden cup of the hospitable citizen. But know, that from a life of the ••trictest temperance, he became, in consequence of possessing this cup, a perpetual drunkard; and is now the most abstemious of men. I threw the poor man into the water. He was then honest and religious. But know, had he walked one half of a mile further, he would

have murthered a man in a state of mortal sin. I gave the golden cup to the rich man who refused to take us within his roof. He has therefore received his reward in this world; and in the next, will suffer the pains of hell for his inhospi∣tality."

The hermit fell prostrate at the angel's feet; and re∣questing forgiveness, returned to his hermitage, fully convinced of the wisdom and justice of God's government.

This is the fable of Parnell's HERMIT, which that elegant yet original writer has heightened with many masterly touches of poetical colouring, and a happier arrangement of circum∣stances. Among other proofs which might be mentioned of Parnell's genius and address in treating this subject, by reserving the discovery of the angel to a critical period at the close of the fable, he has found means to introduce a beautiful description, and an interesting surprise. In this poem, the last instance of the angel's seeming injustice, is that of pushing the guide from the bridge into the river. At this, the hermit is unable to suppress his indignation.

Wild sparkling rage inflames the Father's eyes, He bursts the bonds of fear, and madly cries, "Detested wretch!"—But scarce his speech began, When the strange partner seem'd no longer man: His youthful face grew more serenely sweet, His robe turn'd white, and flow'd upon his feet; Fair rounds of radiant points invest his hair; Celestial odours fill the purple air: And wings, whose colours glitter'd on the day, Wide at his back their gradual plumes display. The form ethereal bursts upon his sight, And moves in all the majesty of light.

The same apologue occurs, with some slight additions and variations for the worse, in Howell's LETTERS; who professes to have taken it from the speculative sir Philip Herbert's CONCEPTIONS

to his Son, a book which I have never seen m 1.84. These Letters were published about the year 1650. It is also found in the DIVINE DIALOGUES of doctor Henry More n 1.85, who has illustrated its important moral with the following fine reflections.

"The affairs of this world are like a curious, but intricately contrived Comedy; and we cannot judge of the tendency of what is past, or acting at present, before the entrance of the last Act, which shall bring in Righteousness in triumph: who, though she hath abided many a brunt, and has been very cruelly and despightfully used hitherto in the world, yet at last, according to our desires, we shall see the knight over∣come the giant. For what is the reason we are so much pleased with the reading romances and the fictions of the poets, but that here, as Aristotle says, things are set down as they should be; but in the true history hitherto of the world, things are recorded indeed as they are, but it is but a testi∣mony, that they have not been as they should be? Where∣fore, in the upshot of all, when we shall see that come to pass, that so mightily pleases us in the reading the most ingenious plays and heroick poems, that long afflicted vertue at last comes to the crown, the mouth of all unbelievers must be for ever stopped. And for my own part, I doubt not but that it will so come to pass in the close of the world. But impatiently to call for vengeance upon every enormity before that time, is rudely to overturn the stage before the entrance into the fifth act, out of ignorance of the plot of the comedy; and to prevent the solemnity of the general judgement by more paltry and particular executions o 1.86."

Parnell seems to have chiefly followed the story as it is told by this Platonic theologist, who had not less imagination than learning. Pope used to say, that it was originally written in

Spanish. This I do not believe: but from the early connection between the Spaniards and Arabians, this assertion tends to con∣firm the suspicion, that it was an oriental tale.

CHAP. lxxxi. A king violates his sister. The child is ex∣posed in a chest in the sea; is christened Gregory by an abbot who takes him up, and after various adventures he is promoted to the popedom. In their old age his father and mother go a pilgrimage to Rome, in order to confess to this pope, not know∣ing he was their son, and he being equally ignorant that they are his parents: when in the course of the confession, a discovery is made on both sides.

CHAP. lxxxix. The three rings.

This story is in the DECAMERON p 1.87, and in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE q 1.88: and perhaps in Swift's TALE OF A TUB.

CHAP. xcv. The tyrant Maxentius. From the GESTA RO∣MANORUM, which are cited.

I think there is the romance of MAXENCE, Constantine's antagonist.

CHAP. xcvi. King Alexander places a burning candle in his hall; and makes proclamation, that he will absolve all those who owe him forfeitures of life and land, if they will appear before the candle is consumed.

CHAP. xcvii. Prodigies before the death of Julius Cesar, who is placed in the twenty-second year of the city. From the CRONICA, as they are called.

CHAP. xcix. A knight saves a serpent who is fighting in a forest with a toad r 1.89, but is afterwards bit by the toad. The knight languishes many days: and when he is at the point of death, the same serpent, which he remembers, enters his cham∣ber, and sucks the poison from the wound.

CHAP. ci. Of Ganterus, who for his prowess in war being elected a king of a certain country, is on the night of his coro∣nation conducted to a chamber, where at the head of the bed is a fierce lion, at the feet a dragon, and on either side a bear, toads, and serpents. He immediately quitted his new kingdom; and was quickly elected king of another country. Going to rest the first night, he was led into a chamber furnished with a bed richly embroidered, but stuck all over with sharp razors. This kingdom he also relinquishes. At length he meets a hermit, who gives him a staff, with which he is directed to knock at the gate of a magnificent palace, seated on a lofty mountain. Here he gains admittance, and finds every sort of happiness unembittered with the laest degree of pain.

The king means every man advanced to riches and honour, and who thinks to enjoy these advantages without interruption and alloy. The hermit is religion, the staff penitence, and the palace heaven.

In a more confined sense, the first part of this apologue may be separately interpreted to signify, that a king, when he enters on his important charge, ought not to suppose himself to succeed to the privilege of an exemption from care, and to be put into immediate possession of the highest pleasures, conveniencies, and felicities of life; but to be sensible, that from that moment, he begins to encounter the greatest dangers and difficulties.

CHAP. cii. Of the lady of a knight who went to the holy land. She commits adultery with a clerk skilled in ne∣cromancy. Another magician discovers her intrigues to the absent knight by means of a polished mirror, and his image in wax.

In Adam Davie's GEST or romance of ALEXANDER, Nec∣tabanus, a king and magician, discovers the machinations of his enemies by embattelling them in figures of wax. This is the most extensive necromantic operation of the kind that I remember, and must have formed a puppet-shew equal to the most splendid pantomime.

Barounes weore whilom wys and gode, That this arss 1.90 wel undurstode: Ac on ther was Neptanamous Wist 1.91 in this ars and malicious: Whan kyng other eorlu 1.92 cam on him to weorre w 1.93 Quyk he loked in the steorre x 1.94; Of wax made him popetts y 1.95, And made heom fyʒhte with battes: And so he learned, je vous dy, Ay to aquellez 1.96 hys enemye, With charms and with conjurisons: Thus he asaied the regiouns, That him cam for to asaile, In puyra 1.97 manyr of bataile b 1.98; By cler candel in the nyʒt, He mad uchonc 1.99 with othir to fyʒt, Of alle manere nacyouns, That comen by schip or dromouns. At the laste, of mony londe Kynges therof haden gret onde d 1.100, Well thritty y gadred beoth e 1.101, And by spekith al his deth f 1.102. Kyng Philippg 1.103 of grete thede Maister was of that fede h 1.104: He was a mon of myʒty hond, With hem brouʒte, of divers lond, Nyne and twenty ryche kynges, To make on hym bataylynges:

Neptanamous hyt understod; Ychaunged was al his mod; He was aferde sore of harme: Anon he deedei 1.105 caste his charme•• His ymage he madde anon, And of his barounes everychon, And afterward of his fone k 1.106; He dude hem to gedere to gon l 1.107 In a basyn al by charme: He saʒh on himm 1.108 fel theo harme; He seyʒ flyen 1.109 of his barounes Of al his lond distinctiouns, He lokid, and kneow in the sterre, Of al this kynges theo grete werre o 1.110, &c. p 1.111

Afterwards he frames an image of the queen Olympias, or Olympia, while sleeping, whom he violates in the shape of a dragon.

Theo lady lyʒt onq 1.112 hire bedde, Yheoledr 1.113 wel with silken webbe, In a chaysel s 1.114 smok scheo lay, And yn a mantell of doway: Of theo bryʒtnes of hire face Al about schone the place t 1.115.—

Herbes he tok in an herber, And stamped them in a morter, And wrongx 1.116 hit in a box: After he tok virgyn wox And made a popet after the quene, His ars-tabl•• y 1.117 he can unwrene; The quenes name in the wax he wrot•• Whil hit was sumdel hot: In a bed he hit dyʒt Al aboute with candel lyʒt, And spreyndz 1.118 theron of the herbus•• Thus charmed Neptanabus. The lady in hir bed lay Abouʒt mydnyʒt, ar the day a 1.119, Whiles he made conjuryng, Scheob 1.120 sawe fle c 1.121, in her metyng d 1.122, Hire thought, a dragoun lyʒt, To hire chaumbre he made his flyʒt, In he cam to her bour And crept undur hir covertour, Mony sithese 1.123 he hire kust f 1.124 And fast in his armes prust, And went away, so dragon wyld, And grete he left hire with child g 1.125.

Theocritus, Virgil, and Horace, have left instances of incan∣••ations conducted by figures in wax. In the beginning of the last century, many witches were executed for attempting the lives of persons, by fabricating representations of them in wax and clay. King James the first, in his DAEMONOLOGIE, speaks of this practice ••s very common; the efficacy of which he pe∣remptorily ascribes to the power of the devil h 1.126. His majesty's arguments, intended to prove how the magician's image ope∣rated on the person represented, are drawn from the depths of moral, theological, physical, and metaphysical knowledge. The Arabian magic abounded with these infatuations, which were partly founded on the doctrine of sympathy.

But to return to the GESTA ROMANORUM. In this story one of the magicians is styled Magister peritus, and sometimes simply Magister. That is, a cunning-man. The title Magister in our universities has its origin from the use of this word in the middle ages. With what propriety it is now continued I will not say. Mystery, antiently used for a particular art i 1.127, or skill in general, is a specious and easy corruption of Maistery or Mastery, the English of the Latin MAGISTERIUM, or Arti∣ficium; in French Maistrise, Mestier, Mestrie, and in Italian Ma∣gisterio, with the same sense k 1.128. In the French romance of CLEO∣MEDES, a physician is called simply Mait••e l 1.129.

Lie sont de chou qu'il n'y a Peril et que bien garira: Car il li MAISTRE ainsi dit leur ont.

And the medical art is styled Mestrie.

"Quant il (the surgeon) aperçut que c'estoit maladie non mie curable par nature et par MESTRIE, et par medicine, &c m 1.130."

Maistrise is used for art or workmanship, in the CHRONICON of Saint Denis,

"Entr•• ••es autres presens, li envoia une horologe de laton, ouvrez par marveilleuse MAISTRISE n 1.131."

That the Latin MAGISTERIUM has precisely the same sense appears from an account of the con∣tract for building the conventual church of Casino in Italy, in the year 1349. The architects agree to build the church in the form of the Lateran at Rome.

"Et in casu si aliquis [defectus] in eorum MAGISTERIO appareret, promiserunt resarcire o 1.132."

Chaucer, in the ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, uses MAISTRIS•• ••or artifice and workmanship.

Was made a toure of grete maistrise, A fairer saugh no man with sight, Large, and wide, and of grete might, &c p 1.133.

And, in the same poem, in describing the shoes of MIRTH.

And shode he was, with gr••te maistrie, With shone decopid and with lace q 1.134.

MAYSTRYE occurs in the description of a lady's saddle, in SYR LAUNFAL'S romance.

Her sadell was semely sett, The sambus r 1.135 were grene felvett,

I paynted with ymagerye; The bordure was of belles s 1.136 Of ryche golde and nothynge elles That any man myʒt aspie: In the arsounist 1.137 before and behynde Were ••wey stones of Ynde Gay for the maystrye. The paytrellu 1.138 of her palfraye Was worth an earldom, &c.

"In the saddle-bow were two jewels of In••ia, very beautiful

to be seen, in consequence of the great art with which they were wrought x 1.139."

Chaucer calls his Monke,

—fayre for the Maistrie, An outrider, that lovid venery y 1.140.

Fayre for the Maistrie means, skilled in the Maistrie of the game, La Maistrise du Venerie, or the science of hunting, then so much a favorite, as simply and familiarly to be called the maistrie. From many other instances which I could produce, I will only add, that the search of the Philosopher's Stone is called in the Latin Geber, INVESTIGATIO MAGISTERII.

CHAP. ciii. The merchant who sells three wise maxims to the wife of Domitian.

CHAP. ••iv. A knight in hunting meets a lion, from whose foot he extracts a thorn. Afterwards he becomes an outlaw; and being seized by the king, is condemned to be thrown into a deep pit to be devoured by a hungry lion. The lion fawns on the knight, whom he perceives to be the same that drew the thorn from his paw. Then said the king,

"I will learn forbearance from the beasts. As the lion has spared your life, when it was in his power to take it, I therefore grant you a free pardon. Depart, and be admonished hence to live virtuously."

The learned reader must immediately recollect a similar story of one Androclus, who being exposed to fight with wild beasts in the Roman amphitheatre, is recognised and unattacked by a most savage lion, whom he had formerly healed exactly in the same manner. But I believe the whole is nothing more than an oriental apologue on gratitude, written much earlier; and that it here exists in its original state. Androclus's story is related by Aulus Gellius, on the authority of a Greek writer, one Ap∣pion, called Plistonices, who flourished under Tiberius. The cha∣racter of Appion, with which Gellius prefaces this tale, in some measure invalidates his credit; notwithstanding he pretends to

have been an eye witness of this extraordinary fact.

"Ejus libri, says Gellius, non incelebres feruntur; quibus, omnium ferme quae mirifica in Aegypto visuntur audiunturque, historia comprehen∣ditur. Sed in his quae audivisse et legisse ••ese dicit, fortasse a vitio studioque ostentationis ••it loquacior, &c z 1.141."

Had our compiler of the GESTA taken this story from Gellius, it is probable he would have told it with some of the same circum∣stances: especially as Gellius is a writer whom he frequently follows, and even quotes; and to whom, on this occasion, he might have been obliged for a few more strokes of the marvel∣lous. But the two writers agree only in the general subject. Our compiler's narrative has much more simplicity than that of Gellius; and contains marks of eastern manners and life. Let me add, that the oriental fabulists are fond of illustrating and enforcing the duty of gratitude, by feigning instances of the gratitude of beasts towards men. And of this the present compilation, which is strongly tinctured with orientalism, affords several other proofs.

CHAP. cv. Theodosius the bl••••d emperor ordained, that the cause of every injured person should be heard, on ringing a bell placed in a public part of his palace. A serpent had a nest near the spot where the bell-rope fell. In the absence of the serpent, a toad took possession of her nest. The serpent twisting herself round the rope, rang the bell for justice; and by the emperor's special command the toad was killed. A few days afterwards, as the king was reposing on his couch, the serpent entered the chamber, bearing a precious stone in her mouth. The serpent creeping up to the emperor's face, laid the precious stone on his eyes, and glided out of the apartment. Immediately the em∣peror was restored to his sight.

This circumstance of the Bell of Justice occurs in the real history of some eastern monarch, whose name I have forgot.

In the Arabian philosophy, serpents, either from the bright∣ness of their eyes, or because they inhabit the cavities of the earth, were considered as having a natural, or occult, connection with precious stones. In Alphonsus's CLERICALIS DISCI∣PLINA, a snake is mentioned, whose eyes were real jacinths. In Alexander's romantic history, he is said to have found ser∣pents in the vale of Jordian, with collars of huge emeralds growing on their necks a 1.142. The toad, under a vulgar indiscri∣minating idea, is ranked with the reptile race: and Shakespeare has a beautiful comparison on the traditionary notion, that the toad has a rich gem inclosed within its head. Milton gives his serpent eyes of carbuncle b 1.143.

CHAP. cvi. The three fellow-travellers, who have only one loaf of bread.

This apologue is in Alphonsus.

CHAP. cvii. There was an image in the city of Rome, which stretched forth its right hand, on the middle finger of which was written STRIKE HERE. For a long time none could un∣derstand the meaning of this mysterious inscription. At length a certain subtle Clerk, who came to see this famous image, ob∣served, as the sun shone against it, the shadow of the inscribed finger on the ground at some distance. He immediately took a spade, and began to dig exactly on that spot. He came at length to a flight of steps which descended far under ground, and led him to a stately palace. Here he entered a hall, where he saw a king and queen sitting at table, with their nobles and a multitude of people, all clothed in rich garments. But no per∣son spake a word. He looked towards one corner, where he saw a polished carbuncle, which illuminated the whole room c 1.144. In

the opposite corner he perceived the figure of a man standing, having a bended bow with an arrow in his hand, as prepared to shoot. On his forehead was written,

"I am, who am. No∣thing can escape my stroke, not even yonder carbuncle which shines so bright."

The Clerk beheld all with amazement; and entering a chamber, saw the most beautiful ladies working at the loom in purple d 1.152. But all was silence. He then entered a stable full of the most excellent horses and asses: he touched some of them, and they were instantly turned into stone. He next surveyed all the apartments of the palace, which abounded

with all that his wishes could desire. He again visited the hal••, and now began to reflect how he should return;

"but, says he, my report of all these wonders will not be believed, unless I carry something back with me."

He therefore took from the principal table a golden cup and a golden knife, and placed them in his bosom. When, the man who stood in the corner with the bow, immediately shot at the carbuncle, which he shattered into a thousand pieces. At that moment the hall be∣came dark as night. In this darkness not being able to find hi•• way, he remained in the subterraneous palace, and soon died a miserable death.

In the MORALISATION of this story, the steps by which the Clerk descends into the earth are supposed to be the Passions. The palace, so richly stored, is the world with all its vanities and temptations. The figure with the bow bent is Death, and the carbuncle is Human Life. He suffers for his avarice in coveting and seizing what was not his own; and no sooner has he taken the golden knife and cup, that is, enriched himself with the goods of this world, than he is delivered up to the gloom and horrors of the grave.

Spenser in the FAERIE QUEENE, seems to have distantly re∣membered this fable, where a fiend expecting sir Guyon will be tempted to snatch some of the treasures of the subterraneous HOUSE OF RICHESSE, which are displayed in his view, i•• prepared to fasten upon him.

Thereat the fiend his gnas••ing teeth did grate, And griev'd so long to lack his greedie pray; For well he weened that so glorious bayte Would tempt his guest to take thereof assay: Had he so doen, he had him snatcht away More light than culver in the faucon's fist e 1.153.

This story was originally invented of pope Gerbert, or Sylvester

the second, who died in the year 1003. He was emi∣nently learned in the mathematical sciences, and on that ac∣count was styled a magician. William of Malmesbury is, I believe, the first writer now extant by whom it is recorded: and he produces it partly to shew, that Gerbert was not always successful in those attempts which he so frequently practised to discover treasures hid in the earth, by the application of the ne∣cromantic arts. I will translate Malmesbury's narration of this fable, as it varies in some of the circumstances, and has some heightenings of the fiction.

"At Rome there was a brazen statue, extending the forefinger of the right hand; and on its forehead was written Strike here. Being suspected to conceal a treasure, it had received many bruises from the credulous and ignorant, in their endeavours to open it. At length Gerbert unriddled the mystery. At noon-day observing the reflection of the forefinger on the ground, he marked the spot. At night he came to the place, with a page carrying a lamp. There by a magical operation he opened a wide passage in the earth; through which they both descended, and came to a vast palace. The walls, the beams, and the whole structure, were of gold: they saw golden images of knights playing at chess, with a king and queen of gold at a banquet, with numerous attendants in gold, and cups of immense size and value. In a recess was a carbuncle, whose lustre illuminated the whole palace: opposite to which stood a figure with a bended bow. As they attempted to touch some of the rich furniture, all the golden images seemed to rush upon them. Gerbert was too wise to attempt this a second time: but the page was bold enough to snatch from the table a golden knife of ex∣quisite workmanship. At that moment, all the golden images rose up with a dreadful noise; the figure with the bow shot at the carbuncle; and a total darkness ensued. The page then replaced the knife, otherwise, they both would have suffered a cruel death."

Malmesbury afterwards mentions a brazen bridge, framed by the enchantments of Gerbert, beyond which

were golden horses of a gigantic size, with riders of gold richly illuminated by the most serene meridian sun. A large company attempt to pass the bridge, with a design of stealing some pieces of the gold. Immediately the bridge rose from its foundations, and stood perpendicular on one end: a brazen man appeared from beneath it, who struck the water with a mace of brass, and the sky was overspread with the most horrible gloom. Gerbert, like some other learned necromancers of the Gothic ages, was supposed to have fabricated a brazen head under the influence of certain planets, which answered questions. But I forbear to suggest any more hints for a future collection of Ara∣bian tales. I shall only add Malmesbury's account of the educa∣tion of Gerbert, which is a curious illustration of what has been often inculcated in these volumes, concerning the introduc∣tion of romantic fiction into Europe f 1.154.

"Gerbert, a native of France, went into Spain for the purpose of learning astrology, and other sciences of that cast, of the Saracens; who, to this day, occupy the upper regions of Spain. They are seated in the metropolis of Seville; where, according to the cus∣tomary practice of their country, they study the arts of divi∣nation and enchantment.—Here Gerbert soon exceeded Ptolemy in the astrolabe, Alchind in astronomy, and Julius Firmicus in fatality. Here he learned the meaning of the flight and language of birds, and was taught how to raise spectres from hell. Here he acquired whatever human cu∣riosity has discovered for the destruction or convenience of mankind. I say nothing of his knowledge in arithmetic, music, and geometry; which he so fully understood as to think them beneath his genius, and which he yet with great industry introduced into France, where they had been long forgotten. He certainly was the first who brought the algorithm from the Saracens, and who illustrated it with

such rules as the most studious in that science cannot explain. He lodged with a philosopher of that sect g 1.155, &c."

I conclude this chapter with a quotation from the old me∣trical romance of SYR LIBEAUX DIASCONIOS, where the knight, in his attempt to disenchant the Lady of Sinadone, after entering the hall of the castle of the necromancers, is almost in similar circumstances with our subterraneous adven∣turers. The passage is rich in Gothic imageries; and the most striking part of the poem, which is mentioned by Chaucer as a popular romance.

Syr Lybeaus, knyʒt corteys h 1.156, Rode ynto the palys, And atte the halle alyʒte i 1.157: Trompes, shalmuses k 1.158, He seyʒ, be fore the heyʒ deys l 1.159, Stonde in hys syʒte. A mydde the halle flore, A fere, sterke and store m 1.160, Was lyʒt, and brende bryʒt n 1.161. Ner the dor he ʒede o 1.162, And laddep 1.163 yn hys stede That wont was help hym in fyʒt. Lybeaus innerq 1.164 gan pace To se eche a place r 1.165,

The haless 1.166 in the halle, Of mayne mor ne lasse Ne sawe he body ne face t 1.167, But menestrelles yclothen yn palle, &c. u 1.168 So much melodye Was never with ynne walle. Before ech menstrell stode A torche ferw 1.169 and gode, Brennynge fayre and bryʒt. Inner more he ʒede, To wyte, with egre mode Who scholdex 1.170 with hym fyʒt: He ʒede ynto the corneres, And loked on the pileres, That selcouth wer of syʒt, Of jasper and of fyn crystall, &c. The dores wer of bras; The windowes wer of glas Ffloryssed with imagerye y 1.171•• The halle ypaynted was z 1.172•• No rycher never ther was That he hadde seye with eye a 1.173. He sette hym on the hye deys b 1.174, The mynstrelles were yn pes c 1.175, That were so gode and trye d 1.176. The torches that brende bryʒt e 1.177. Quenched anon ryʒt f 1.178; The menstrelles were awaye g 1.179:

Dores, and wyndowes alle, Beten yn the halle As hyt wer voys of thunder, &c.— As he sate tho dismayde, And helde hymselfe betrayde, Steedes herde he naye, &c h 1.180.

This castle is called,

"A paleys queynt of gynne,"

and,

"by negremancye ymaketh of fayrye i 1.181."

CHAP. cviii. The mutual fidelity of two thieves.

CHAP. cix. The chest and the three pasties.

A like story is in Boccace's DECAMERON k 1.182, in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE l 1.183, and in Gower's CONFESSIO AMANTIS m 1.184.

The story, however, as it stands in Gower, seems to be co∣pied from one which is told by the hermit Barlaam to king Avenamore, in the spiritual romance, written originally in Greek about the year 800, by Joannes Damascenus a Greek monk n 1.185, and translated into Latin before the thirteenth century, entitled, BARLAAM and JOSAPHAT o 1.186. But Gower's imme∣diate author, if not Boccace, was perhaps Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about the year 1290, and who has incorporated Damascenus's history of Barlaam and Josaphat p 1.187, who were canonised, into his SPECULUM HISTORIALE q 1.188. As Bar∣laam's fable is probably the remote but original source of Shakespeare's CASKETTS in the MERCHANT OF VENICE, I will give the reader a translation of the passage in which it occurs, from the Greek original, never yet printed.

"The king commanded four chests to be made: two of which were covered with gold, and secured by golden locks, but

filled with the rotten bones of human carcasses. The other two were overlaid with pitch, and bound with rough cords; but replenished with pretious stones and the most exquisite gems, and with ointments of the richest odour. He called his nobles together; and placing these chests before them, asked which they thought the most valuable. They pronounced those with the golden coverings to be the most pretious, sup∣posing they were made to contain the crowns and girdles of the king r 1.189. The two chests covered with pitch they viewed with contempt. Then said the king, I presumed what would be your determination: for ye look with the eyes of sense. But to discern baseness or value, which are hid within, we must look with the eyes of the mind. He then ordered the golden chests to be opened, which exhaled an intolerable stench, and filled the beholders with horror s 1.190."

In the ME∣TRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS, written about the year 1300, these chests are called four fates, that is, four vats or vessels t 1.191.

I make no apology for giving the reader a translation from the same Greek original, which is now before me, of the story of the Boy told in the DECAMERON.

"A king had an only son. As soon as he was born, the physicians declared, that if he was allowed to see the sun, or any fire, before he arrived at the age of twelve years, he would be blind. The king com∣manded an apartment to be hewed within a rock, into which no light could enter; and here he shut up the boy, totally in the dark, yet with proper attendants, for twelve years. At the end of which time, he brought him abroad from his gloomy chamber, and placed in his view, men, women, gold, pre∣tious stones, rich garments, chariots of exquisite workmanship

drawn by horses with golden bridles, heaps of purple tapestry, armed knights on horseback, oxen and sheep. These were all distinctly pointed out to the youth: but being most pleased with the women, he desired to know by what name they were called. An esquire of the king jocosely told him, that they were devils who catch men. Being brought to the king, he was asked which he liked best of all the fine things he had seen. He replied, the devils who catch men, &c."

I need not enlarge on Boccace's improvements u 1.192.

This romantic legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, which is a history of considerable length, is undoubtedly the composition of one who had an intercourse with the east: and from the strong traces which it contains of the oriental mode of mora∣lising, appears plainly to have been written, if not by the monk whose name it bears, at least by some devout and learned ascetic of the Greek church, and probably before the tenth century.

Leland mentions DAMASCENUS DE GESTIS BARLAAM ET JOSAPHAT, as one of the manuscripts which he saw in Nettley∣abbey near Southampton w 1.193.

CHAP. cx. The life of the knight Placidus, or Placidas x 1.194, afterwards called Eustacius.

It occurs in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE y 1.195. Among the Cotton manuscripts there is a metrical legend or romance on this story z 1.196.

CHAP. cxi. The classical story of Argus and Mercury, with some romantic additions. Mercury comes to Argus in the cha∣racter of a minstrel, and lulls him to sleep by telling him tales and singing, incepit more histrionico fabulas dicere, et plerumque cantare.

CHAP. cxii. The son of king Gorgonius is beloved by hi•• step-mother. He is therefore sent to seek his fortune in a foreign country, where he studies physic; and returning, heals his father of a dangerous disease, who recovers at the sight of him. The step-mother, hearing of his return, falls sick, and dies at seeing him.

CHAP. cxiii. The tournaments of the rich king Adonias•• A party of knights arrive the first day, who lay their shields aside, in one place. The same number arrives the second day, each of whom chuses his antagonist by touching with his spear the shield of one of the first day's party, not knowing the owner.

The most curious anecdote of chivalry, now on record, oc∣curs in the ecclesiastical history of Spain. Alphonsus the ninth, about the year 1214, having expelled the Moors from Toledo, endeavoured to establish the Roman missal in the place of saint Isidore's. This alarming innovation was obstinately opposed by the people of Toledo; and the king found that his project would be attended with almost insuperable difficulties. The contest at length between the two missals grew so serious, that it was mutually resolved to decide the controversy, not by a theological disputation, but by single combat; in which the champion of the Toletan missal proved victorious a 1.197.

Many entertaining passages relating to trials by single combat may be seen in the old Imperial and Lombard laws. In Caxton's BOKE OF THE FAYTTES OF ARMES AND OF CHIVALRYE, printed at Westminster in the year 1489, and translated from the French of Christine of Pisa, many of the chapters towards the end are compiled from that singular monument of Gothic legislation.

CHAP. cxv. An intractable elephant is lulled asleep in a forest by the songs and blandishments of two naked virgins. One of them cuts off his head, the other carries a bowl of his blood to

the king. Rex vero gavisus est valde, et statim fecit fieri PUR∣PURAM, et multa alia, de eodem sanguine.

In this wild tale, there are circumstances enough of general analogy, if not of peculiar parallelism, to recall to my memory the following beautiful description, in the manuscript romance of SYR LAUNFAL, of two damsels, whom the knight unex∣pectedly meets in a desolate forest.

As he sate in sorowe and sore, He sawe come out of holtes hore Gentyll maydenes two; Thar kertelles were of Inde sandel b 1.198 I lassedc 1.199 smalle, jolyf and wel; Thar myʒtd 1.200 noon gayer go. Thar manteles were of grene felwette e 1.201 Ybordured with golde ryʒte welle ysette, I peluredf 1.202 with gris and gro g 1.203; Har heddysh 1.204 wer dyʒt well withall, Everych hadde on a jolyf coronall, With sixty gemmys and mo i 1.205. Har faces was whyte as snowe on downe, Har rodek 1.206 was red, har eyn were broune, I sawe never none swyche l 1.207. The oon bar of gold a basyn, That other a towayle whyt and fyn, Of sylk that was goode and ryche. Har kercheves wer well schyre m 1.208 Arayd with ryche gold wyre, &c. n 1.209

CHAP. cxvi. The queen of Pepin king of France died in childbed, leaving a son. He married a second wife, who bore

a son within a year. These children were sent abroad to be nursed. The surviving queen, anxious to see her child, desired that both the boys might be brought home. They were so exceedingly alike, that the one could not be distinguished from the other, except by the king. The mother begged the king to point out her own son. This he refused to do, till they were both grown up; left she should spoil him by too fond a partia∣lity. Thus they were both properly treated with uniform affec∣tion, and without excess of indulgence.

A favorite old romance is founded on the indistinctible like∣ness of two of Charlemagne's knights, Amys and Amelion; ori∣ginally celebrated by Turpin, and placed by Vincent of Beauvais under the reign of Pepin o 1.210.

CHAP. cxvii. The law of the emperor Frederick, that who∣ever rescued a virgin from a rape might claim her for his wife.

CHAP. cxviii. A knight being in Egypt, recovers a thousand talents which he had entrusted to a faithless friend, by the artifice of an old woman.

This tale is in Alphonsus. And in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE p 1.211.

CHAP. cxix. A king had an oppressive Seneshall, who passing through a forest, fell into a deep pit, in which were a lion, an ape, and a serpent. A poor man who gathered sticks in the forest hearing his cries, drew him up: together with the lion, the ape, and the serpent. The Seneshall returned home, pro∣mising to reward the poor man with great riches. Soon after∣wards the poor man went to the palace to claim the promised reward; but was ordered to be cruelly beaten by the seneshall. In the mean time, the lion drove ten asses laden with gold to the poor man's cottage: the serpent brought him a pretious stone of three colours: and the ape, when he came to the forest on his daily business, laid him heaps of wood. The poor man, in consequence of the virtues of the serpent's pretious stone,

which he sold, arrived to the dignity of knighthood, and ac∣quired ample possessions. But afterwards he found the pretious stone in his chest, which he presented to the king. The king having heard the whole story, ordered the seneshall to be put to death for his ingratitude, and preferred the poor man to his office.

This story occurs in Symeon Seth's translation of the cele∣brated Arabian fable-book called CALILAH U DUMNAH q 1.212. It is recited by Matthew Paris, under the year 1195, as a parable which king Richard the first, after his return from the east, was often accustomed to repeat, by way of reproving those ungrate∣ful princes who refused to engage in the crusade r 1.213. It is versified by Gower, who omits the lion, as Matthew Paris does the ape, in the fifth book of the CONFESSIO AMANTIS s 1.214. He thus describes the services of the ape and serpent to the poor man•• who gained his livelihood by gathering sticks in a forest.

He gan his ape anone behold, Which had gadred al aboute, Of stickes here and there a route, And leyde hem redy to his honde, Whereof he made his trusse and ••ond From daie to daie.— Upon a time and as he drough Towarde the woodde, he sigh beside The great gastly serpent glide, Till that she came in his presence, And in hir kynde a reverence She hath hym do, and forthwith all A stone more bright than a christall Out of hir mouth to fore his waye She lett down fall.—

In Gower also, as often as the poor man sells the pretious stone, on returning home, he finds it again among the money in his purse.

The acquisition of riches, and the multiplication of treasure, by invisible agency, is a frequent and favorite fiction of the Arabian romance. Thus, among the presents given to Sir Launfal by the Lady Triamore, daughter of the king of Faerie.

I will the ʒevet 1.215 an Alver u 1.216, I mad of sylver and gold cler, With fayre ymages thre: As ofte thou puttest thy honde ther ynne, A marke of golde thou shalt wynne w 1.217, In wat place shalt thou be x 1.218.

CHAP. XX. King Darius's legacy to his three sons. To the eldest he bequeathes all his paternal inheritance: to the second, all that he had acquired by conquest: and to the third, a ring and necklace, both of gold, and a rich cloth. All the three last gifts were endued with magical virtues. Whoever wore the ring on his finger, gained the love or favour of all whom he desired to please. Whoever hung the necklace over his breast, obtained all his heart could desire. Whoever sate down on the cloth, could be instantly transported to any part of the world which he chose.

From this beautiful tale, of which the opening only is here given, Occleve, commonly called Chaucer's disciple, framed a poem in the octave stanza, which was printed in the year 1614, by William Browne, in his set of Eclogues called the SHEP∣HEARDS PIPE. Occleve has literally followed the book before us, and has even translated into English prose the MORALISA∣TION annexed y 1.219. He has given no sort of embellishment to his

original, and by no means deserves the praises which Browne in the following elegant pastoral lyrics has bestowed on his per∣formance, and which more justly belong to the genuine Gothic, or rather Arabian, inventor.

Well I wot, the man that first Sung this lay, did quenche his thirst Deeply as did ever one In the Muses Helicon. Many times he hath been seene With the faeries on the greene, And to them his pipe did sound As they danced in a round; Mickle solace would they make him, And at midnight often wake him, And convey him from his roome To a fielde of yellow broome, Or into the medowes where Mints perfume the gentle aire, And where Flora spreads her treasure There they would beginn their measure. If it chancd night's sable shrowds Muffled Cynthia up in clowds, Safely home they then would see him, And from brakes and quagmires free him. There are few such swaines as he Now a dayes for harmonie z 1.220.

The history of Darius, who gave this legacy to his three sons, is incorporated with that of Alexander, which has been deco∣rated with innumerable fictions by the Arabian writers. There is also a separate romance on Darius. And on Philip of Macedon a 1.221.

CHAP. cxxiv. Of the knights who intercede for their friend with a king, by coming to his court, each half on horse back and half on foot.

This is the last novel in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE.

CHAP. cxxvi. Macrobius is cited for the address and humour of an ingenuous boy named Papirius.

This is one of the most lively stories in Macrobius a 1.222.

CHAP. cxxviii. The forged testament of the wicked knight, under the reign of Maximian.

CHAP. cxxix. A young prince is sent on his travels. His three friends.

CHAP. cxxxii. The four physicians.

CHAP. cxxxiii. The king and his two greyhounds.

CHAP. cxxxiv. A story from Seneca.

CHAP. cxxxv. The story of Lucretia, from saint Austin's CITY OF GOD.

A more classical authority for this story, had it been at hand, would have been slighted for saint Austin's CITY OF GOD, which was the favorite spiritual romance; and which, as the transition from religion to gallantry was antiently very easy, gave rise to the famous old French romance called the CITY OF LADIES.

CHAP. cxxxvii. The Roman emperor who is banished for his impartial distribution of justice. From the CRONICA of Eusebius.

CHAP. cxxxviii. King Medro.

CHAP. cxxxix. King Alexander, by means of a mirrour, kills a cockatrice, whose look had destroyed the greatest part of his army.

Aelian, in his VARIOUS HISTORY, mentions a serpent which appearing from the mouth of a cavern, stopped the march of Alexander's army through a spacious desert. The wild beasts, serpents, and birds, which Alexander encountered in marching through India, were most extravagantly imagined

by the oriental fabulists, and form the chief wonders of that monarch's romance b 1.223.

CHAP. cxl. The emperor Eraclius reconciles two knights.

This story is told by Seneca of Cneius Piso c 1.224. It occurs in Chaucer's SOMPNOUR'S TALE, as taken from Senec, or Seneca d 1.225.

CHAP. cxli. A knight who had dissipated all his substance in frequenting tournaments, under the reign of Fulgentius, is re∣duced to extreme poverty. A serpent haunted a chamber of his house; who being constantly fed with milk by the knight, in return made his benefactor rich. The knight's ingratitude and imprudence in killing the serpent, who was supposed to guard a treasure concealed in his chamber.

Medea's dragon guarding the golden fleece is founded on the oriental idea of treasure being guarded by serpents. We are told in Vincent of Beauvais, that there are mountains of solid gold in India guarded by dragons and griffins e 1.226.

CHAP. cxliii. A certain king ordained a law, that if any man was suddenly to be put to death, at sun-rising a trumpet should be sounded before his gate. The king made a great feast for all his nobles, at which the most skilful musicians were present f 1.227. But amidst the general festivity, the king was sad and silent. All the guests were surprised and perplexed at the king's melan∣choly; but at length his brother ventured to ask him the cause.

The king replied,

"Go home, and you shall hear my answer to morrow."

The king ordered his trumpeters to sound early the next morning before his brother's gate, and to bring him with them to judgement. The brother, on hearing this unexpected dreadful summons, was seized with horror, and came before the king in a black robe. The king commanded a deep pit to be made, and a chair composed of the most frail materials, and supported by four slight legs, to be placed in∣clining over the edge of the pit. In this the brother, being strip∣ped naked, was seated. Over his head a sharp sword was hung by a small thread of silk. Around him four men were stationed with swords exceedingly sharp, who were to wait for the king's word, and then to kill him. In the mean time, a table co∣vered with the most costly dishes was spread before him, ac∣companied with all sorts of music. Then said the king,

"My brother, why are you so sad? Can you be dejected, in the midst of this delicious music, and with all these choice dainties?"

He answered,

"How can I be glad, when I have this morning heard the trumpet of death at my doors, and while I am seated in this tottering chair? If I make the smallest mo∣tion, it will break, and I shall fall into the pit, from which I shall never arise again. If I lift my head, the suspended sword will penetrate my brain; while these four tormentors only wait your command to put me to death."

The king replied,

"Now I will answer your question, why I was sad yesterday. I am exactly in your situation. I am seated, like you, in a frail and perishable chair, ready to tumble to pieces every moment, and to throw me into the infernal pit. Divine judgement, like this sharp sword, hangs over my head: and I am surrounded, like you, with four executioners. That before me is Death, whose coming I cannot tell; that behind me, my Sins, which are prepared to accuse me before the tribunal of God; that on the right, the Devil, who is ever watching for his prey; and that on the left, the Worm, who is now 〈…〉〈…〉 after my flesh. Go in peace, my

dearest brother: and never ask me again why I am sad at a feast."

Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS, may perhaps have co∣pied the circumstance of the morning trumpet from this apo∣logue. His king is a king of Hungary.

It so befell, that on a dawe There was ordeined by the lawe A Trompe with a sterne breathe, Which was cleped the Trompe of deathe: And in the court where the kyng was, A certaine man, this trompe of brasse Hath in kepyng, and therof serveth, That when a lorde his deathe deserveth, He shall this dredfull trompe blowe To fore his gate, to make it knowe, Howe that the jugement is yeve Of deathe, whiche shall not be foryeve. The kyng whan it was night anone, This man assent, and bad him gone, To trompen at his brothers gate; And he, whiche mote done algate, Goth foorth, and doth the kyng's heste. This lorde whiche herde of this tempest That he tofore his gate blewe, Tho wist he by the lawe, and knewe That he was schurly deade, &c g 1.228.

But Gower has connected with this circumstance a different story, and of an inferior cast, both in point of moral and ima∣gination. The truth is, Gower seems to have altogether fol∣lowed this story as it appeared in the SPECULUM HISTORIALE of Vincent of Beauvais h 1.229, who took it from Damascenus's ro∣mance of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT i 1.230. Part of it is thus

told in Caxton's translation of that legend k 1.231.

"And the kynge hadde suche a custome, that whan one sholde be delyvered to deth, the kynge sholde sende hys cryar wyth hys trompe that was ordeyned therto. And on the euen he sente the cryar wyth the trompe tofore hys brother's gate, and made to soune the trompe. And whan the kynges brother herde this, he was in despayr of sauynge of his lyf, and coude not slepe of alle the nyght, and made his testament. And on the morne erly, he cladde hym in blacke: and came with wepyng with hys wyf and chyldren to the kynges paleys. And the kynge made hym to com tofore hym, and sayd to hym, a fooll that thou art, that thou hast herde the messager of thy bro∣ther, to whom thou knowest well thou hast not trespaced and doubtest so mooche, howe oughte not I then ne doubte the messageres of our lorde, agaynste whom I haue soo ofte synned, which signef••ed unto me more clerely the deth then the trompe?"

CHAP. cxlv. The philosopher Socrates shews the cause of the insalubrity of a passage between two mountains in Armenia, by means of a polished mirrour of steel. Albertus is cited; an abbot of Stade, and the author of a Chronicle from Adam to 1256.

CHAP. cxlvi. Saint Austin's CITY OF GOD is quoted for an answer of Diomedes the pirate to king Alexander.

CHAP. cxlviii. Aulius Gellius is cited.

Aulus Gellius is here quoted, for the story of Arion l 1.232, throw∣ing himself into the sea, and carried on the back of a dolphin to king Periander at Corinth m 1.233. Gellius relates this story from Herodotus, in whom it is now extant n 1.234.

CHAP. cliii. The history of Apollonius of Tyre.

This story, the longest in the book before us, and the groundwork

of a favorite old romance, is known to have existed before the year 1190.

In the Prologue to the English romance on this subject, called KYNGE APOLYNE OF THYRE, and printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1510, we are told.

"My worshypfull mayster Wyn∣kyn de Worde, havynge a lytell boke of an auncyent hystory of a kynge somtyme reygnyne in the countree of Thyre called Appolyn, concernynge his malfortunes and peryllous adventures right espouventables, bryefly compyled and pyteous for to here; the which boke, I Robert Coplandeo 1.235 have me applyed for to translate out of the Frensshe language into our maternal Englysshe tongue, at the exhortacyon of my for∣sayd mayster, accordynge dyrectly to myn auctor: gladly fol∣lowynge the trace of my mayster Caxton, begynnynge with small storyes and pamf••etes and so to other."

The English romance, or the French, which is the same thing, exactly cor∣responds in many passages with the text of the GESTA. I will instance in the following one only, in which the complica∣tion of the fable commences. King Appolyn dines in disguise in the hall of king Antiochus.—

"Came in the kynges daugh∣ter, accompanyed with many ladyes and damoyselles, whose splendente beaute were too long to endyte, for her rosacyate coloure was medled with grete favour. She dranke unto hir fader, and to all the lordes, and to all them that had ben at the play of the Shelde p 1.236. And as she behelde here and there, she espyed kynge Appolyn, and then she sayd unto her fader, Syr, what is he that sytteth so hye as by you, it semeth by hym that he is angry or sorrowfull? The kynge sayd, I never sawe so nimble and pleasaunt a player at the shelde, and therfore

have I made hym to come and soupe with my knyghtes. And yf ye wyll knowe what he is, demaunde hym; for per∣adventure he wyll tell you sooner than me. Methynke that he is departed from some good place, and I thinke in my mynde that somethynge is befallen hym for which he is sorry. This sayd, the noble dameysell wente unto Appolyn and said, "Fayre Syr, graunt me a boone. And he graunted her with goode herte. And she sayd unto hym, albeyt that your vysage be tryst and hevy, your behavour sheweth noblesse and facundyte, and therefore I pray you to tell me of your affayre and estate. Appolyn answered, Yf ye demaunde of my rychesses, I have lost them in the sea. The damoysell sayd, I pray you that you tell me of your adventures q 1.237."

But in the GESTA, the princess at entering the royal hall kisses all the knights and lords present, except the stranger r 1.238. Vossius says, that about the year 1520, one Alamanus Rinucinus a Florentine, translated into Latin this fabulous history; and that the translation was corrected by Beroaldus. Vossius certainly cannot mean, that he translated it from the Greek original s 1.239.

CHAP. cliv. A story from Gervase of Tilbury, an English∣man, who wrote about the year 1200, concerning a miraculous statue of Christ in the city of Edessa.

CHAP. clv. The adventures of an English knight named Albert in a subterraneous passage, within the bishoprick of Ely.

This story is said to have been told in the winter after sup∣per, in a castle, cum familia divitis ad focum, ut Potentibus moris est, RECENSENDIS ANTIQUIS GESTIS operam daret, when the fa∣mily of a rich man, as is the custom with the Great, was sitting round the fire, and telling ANTIENT GESTS. Here is a traite of the private life of our ancestors, who wanted the diver∣sions and engagements of modern times to relieve a tedious even∣ing. Hence we learn, that when a company was assembled, if a

jugler or a minstrel were not present, it was their custom to en∣tertain themselves by relating or hearing a series of adventures. Thus the general plan of the CANTERBURY TALES, which at first sight seems to be merely an ingenious invention of the poet to serve a particular occasion, is in great measure founded on a fashion of antient life: and Chaucer, in supposing each of the pilgrims to tell a tale as they are travelling to Becket's shrine, only makes them adopt a mode of amusement which was com∣mon to the conversations of his age. I do not deny, that Chaucer has shewn his address in the use and application of this practice.

So habitual was this amusement in the dark ages, that the graver sort thought it unsafe for ecclesiastics, if the subjects ad∣mitted any degree of levity. The following curious injunction was deemed necessary, in a code of statutes assigned to a college at Oxford in the year 1292. I give it in English.

"CH. xx.—The fellows shall all live honestly, as becomes Clerks.—They shall not rehearse, sing, nor willingly hear, BALLADS or TALES of LOVERS, which tend to lasciviousness and idle∣ness t 1.240."

Yet the libraries of our monasteries, as I have before observed, were filled with romances. In that of Croyland-abbey we find even archbishop Turpin's romance, placed on the same shelf with Robert Tumbeley on the Canticles, Roger Dymock against Wickliffe, and Thomas Waleys on the Psalter. But their apology must be, that they thought this a true history: at least that an archbishop could write nothing but truth. Not to men∣tion that the general subject of those books were the triumphs of christianity over paganism u 1.241.

CHAP. clvi. Ovid, in his TROJAN WAR, is cited for the story of Achilles disguised in female apparel.

Gower has this history more at large in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS: but he refers to a Cronike, which seems to be the BOKE OF TROIE, mentioned at the end of the chapter w 1.242.

CHAP. clvii. The porter of a gate at Rome, who taxes all deformed persons entering the city. This tale is in Alphonsus. And in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE x 1.243.

CHAP. clviii. The discovery of the gigantic body of Pallas, son of Evander, at Rome, which exceeded in height the wa••••s of the city, was uncorrupted, and accompanied with a burning lamp, two thousand two hundred and forty years after the destruction of Troy. His wound was fresh, which was four feet and a half in length.

It is curious to observe, the romantic exaggerations of the classical story.

CHAP. clix. Josephus, in his book de Causis rerum naturalium, is quoted, for Noah's discovery of wine.

I know not any book of Josephus on this subject. The first editor of the Latin Josephus was Ludovicus Cendrata of Verona, who was ignorant that he was publishing a modern translation. In the Dedication he complains, that the manuscript was brought to him from Bononia so ill-written, that it was often impossible even to guess at Josep••us's words. And in another place he says, Josephus first wrote the ANTIQUITATES in He∣brew, and that he afterwards translated them from Hebrew into Greek, and from Greek into Latin y 1.244.

The substance of this chapter is founded on a Rabbinical tra∣dition, related by Fabricius z 1.245. When Noah planted the vine, Satan attended, and sacrificed a sheep, a lion, an ape, and a sow. These animals were to symbolise the gradations of ebriety. When a man begins to drink, he is meek and ignorant as the lamb, then becomes bold as the lion, his courage is soon trans∣formed into the foolishness of the ape, and at last he wallows in the mire like the sow. Chaucer hence says in the MANCIPLES PROLOGUE, as the passage is justly corrected by Mr. Tyrwhitt,

I trowe that ye have dronken wine of ape, And that is when men plaien at a strawe a 1.246.

In the old KALENDRIER DES BERGERS, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has remarked, Vin de singe, vin de mouton, vin de lyon, and vin de porceau, are mentioned, in their respective operations on the four temperaments of the human body.

CHAP. clxi. Of a hill in a forest of England, where if a hunter sate after the chace, he was refreshed by a miraculous person of a mild aspect, bearing a capacious horn, adorned with gems and gold b 1.247, and filled with the most delicious liquor. This person instantly disappeared after administering the draught; which was of so wonderful a nature, as to dispel the most op∣pressive lassitude, and to make the body more vigorous than before. At length, a hunter having drank of this horn, un∣gratefully refused to return it to the friendly apparition; and his master, the lord of the forest, lest he should appear to countenance so atrocious a theft, gave it to king Henry the elder c 1.248.

This story, which seems imperfect, I suppose, is from Ger∣vase of Tilbury.

CHAP. clxii. The same author is cited for an account of a hill in Castile, on which was a palace of demons.

Whenever our compiler quotes Gervase of Tilbury, the re∣ference is to his OTIA IMPERIALIA: which is addressed to the emperor Otho the fourth, and contains his Commentarius de regnis Imperatorum Romanorum, his Mundi Descriptio, and his Tractatus de Mirabilibus Mundi. All these four have been im∣properly supposed to be separate works.

CHAP. clxiii. King Alexander's son Celestinus.

CHAP. clxvii. The archer and the nightingale.

This fable is told in the Greek legend of BARLAAM AND

JOSAPHAT, written by Johannes Damascenus d 1.249. And in Caxton's GOLDEN LEGENDE e 1.250. It is also found in the CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA of Alphonsus.

CHAP. clxviii. Barlaam is cited for the story of a man, who, flying from a unicorn, and falling into a deep and noisom pit, hung on the boughs of a lofty tree which grew from the bottom. On looking downward, he saw a huge dragon twisted round the trunk, and gaping to devour him. He also observed two mice gnawing at the roots of the tree, which began to totter. Four white vipers impregnated the air of the pit with their poisonous breath. Looking about him, he discovered a stream of hony distilling from one of the branches of the tree, which he began eagerly to devour, without regarding his dan∣gerous situation. The tree soon fell: he found himself strug∣gling in a loathsome quagmire, and was instantly swallowed by the dragon.

This is another of Barlaam's apologues in Damascenus's ro∣mance of BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT: and which has been adopted into the Lives of the Saints by Surius and others f 1.251. A MORALISATION is subjoined, exactly agreeing with that in the GESTA g 1.252.

CHAP. clxix. Trogus Pompeius is cited, for the wise legisla∣tion of Ligurius, a noble knight.

Our compiler here means Justin's abridgement of Trogus; which, to the irreparable injury of literature, soon destroyed its original. An early epitome of Livy would have been attended with the same unhappy consequences.

CHAP. clxx. The dice player and saint Bernard.

This is from saint Bernard's legend h 1.253.

CHAP. clxxi. The two knights of Egypt and Baldach.

This is the story of Boccace's popular novel of TITO AND

GISIPPO, and of Lydgate's T••le of two Marchants of Egypt and of Baldad, a manuscript poem in the British Museum, and lately in the library of doctor Askew i 1.254. Peter Alphonsus is quoted for this story; and it makes the second Fable of his CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA.

I take the liberty of introducing a small digression here, which refers to two pieces of the poet last-mentioned, never enume∣rated among his works. In the year 1483, Caxton printed at Westminster,

"The PYLGREMAGE•• OF THE SOWLE translated oute of Frensshe into Englisshe. Full of devout maters touching the sowle, and many questyons assoyled to cause a man to lyve the better, &c. Emprinted at Westminster by William Caxton the first yere of kynge Edward V. 1483."

The French book, which is a vision, and has some degree of imagination, is probably the PELERIN DE L'AME, of Guillaume prior of Chaulis k 1.255. This translation was made from the French, with additions, in the year 1413. For in the colophon are these words.

"Here endeth the dreme of the PYLGREMAGE OF THE SOWLE translated out of Frensche into Englisshe, with somwhat of Addicions, the yere of our lorde M. CCCC. and thyrteen, and endethe in the vigyle of seint Bartholomew."

The translator of this book, at least the author of the Addicions, which altoge∣ther consist of poetry in seven-lined stanzas, I believe to be Lydgate. Not to insist on the correspondence of time and style, I observe, that the thirty-fourth chapter of Lydgate's metrical LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MARY is literally repeated in the thirty∣fourth chapter of this Translation. This chapter is a digression of five or six stanzas in praise of Chaucer; in which the writer feelingly laments the recent death of his maister Chaucer, poete of Britaine, who used to amende and correcte the wronge traces of my rude penne. No writer besides, in Lydgate's own life-time, can be supposed, with any sort of grace or propriety, to have men∣tioned those personal assistances of Chaucer, in Lydgate's own

words. And if we suppose that the Translation, or its Addicions, were written by Lydgate before he wrote his LIFE OF THE VIRGIN, the proof will be the same k 1.256.

Another piece probably written by Lydgate, yet never sup∣posed or acknowledged to be of his composition, is a poem in the octave stanza, containing thirty-seven leaves in folio, and entitled LABEROUS AND MARVEYLOUS WORKE OF SAPIENCE. After a long debate between MERCY and TRUTH, and JUSTICE and PEACE, all the products of nature and of human know∣ledge are described, as they stand arranged in the palace and do∣minions of WISDOM. It is generally allowed to have been printed by Caxton: it has not the name of the printer, nor any date. Had it been written by Caxton, as I once hastily suspected, or by any of his cotemporaries, the name of Lydgate would have appeared in conjunction with those of Gower and Chaucer, who are highly celebrated in the Prologue as erthely gods expert in poesie: for these three writers were constantly joined in pane∣gyric, at least for a century, by their successors, as the distin∣guished triumvirate of English poetry. In the same Prologue, the author says he was commanded to write this poem by the king. No poet cotemporary with Caxton was of consequence enough to receive such a command: and we know that Lydgate compiled many of his works by the direction, or under the pa∣tronage, of king Henry the fifth. Lydgate was born in Suffolk: and our author from the circumstance of having lived in a part of England not of a very polished dialect, apologises for the rude∣ness of his language, so that he cannot delycately endyte. It is much in the style and manner of Lydgate: and I believe it to have been one of his early performances l 1.257.

CHAP. clxxii. A king of England has two knights, named

Guido and Tirius. Guido having achieved many splendid ex∣ploits for the love of a beautiful lady, at length married her. Three days after his marriage he saw a vision, which summoned him to engage in the holy war. At parting she gave him a ring; saying,

"as often as you look on this ring, remember me."

Soon after his departure she had a son. After various adventures, in which his friend Tirius has a share, at the end of seven years he returned to England in the habit of a pilgrim. Coming to his castle, he saw at the gate his lady sitting, and distributing alms to a croud of poor people; ordering them all to pray for the return of her lord Guido from the holy land. She was on that day accompanied by her son a little boy, very beautiful, and richly apparelled; and who hearing his mother, as she was distributing her alms, perpetually recommending Guido to their prayers, asked, if that was his father? Among others, she gave alms to her husband Guido, not knowing him in the pilgrim's disguise. Guido, seeing the little boy, took him in his arms, and kissed him: saying,

"O my sweet son, may God give you grace to please him!"

For this boldness he was reproved by the attendants. But the lady, finding him destitute and a stranger, assigned him a cottage in a neighbouring forest. Soon afterwards falling sick, he said to his servant,

"Carry this ring to your lady, and tell her, if she desires ever to see me again, to come hither without delay."

The servant conveyed the ring; but before she arrived, he was dead. She threw her∣self on his body, and exclaimed with tears,

"Where are now my alms which I daily gave for my lord? I saw you receive those alms, but I knew you not.—You beheld, embraced, and kissed your own son, but did not discover yourself to him nor to me. What have I done, that I shall see you no more?"

She then interred him magnificently.

The reader perceives this is the story of Guido, or Guy, earl of Warwick; and probably this is the early outline of the life and death of that renowned champion.

Many romances were at first little more than legends of devotion,

containing the pilgrimage of an old warrior. At length, as chivalry came more into vogue, and the stores of invention were increased, the youthful and active part of the pilgrim's life was also written, and a long series of imaginary martial adventures was added, in which his religious was eclipsed by his heroic character, and the penitent was lost in the knight-errant. That which was the principal subject of the short and simple legend, became only the remote catastrophe of the voluminous romance. And hence by degrees it was almost an established rule of every romance, for the knight to end his days in a hermitage. Cer∣vantes has ridiculed this circumstance with great pleasantry, where Don Quixote holds a grave debate with Sancho, whether he shall turn saint or archbishop.

So reciprocal, or rather so convertible, was the pious and the military character, that even some of the apostles had their ro∣mance. In the ninth century, the chivalrous and fabling spirit of the Spaniards transformed saint James into a knight. They pretended that he appeared and fought with irresistible fury, completely armed, and mounted on a stately white horse, in most of their engagements with the Moors; and ••••cause, by his superior prowess in these bloody conflicts, he was supposed to have freed the Spaniards from paying the annual tribute of a hundred christian virgins to their infidel enemies, they repre∣sented him as a professed and powerful champion of distressed damsels. This apotheosis of chivalry in the person of their own apostle, must have ever afterwards contributed to exaggerate the characteristical romantic heroism of the Spaniards, by which it was occasioned; and to propagate through succeeding ages, a stronger veneration for that species of military enthusiasm, to which they were naturally devoted. It is certain, that in con∣sequence of these illustrious achievements in the Moorish wars, saint James was constituted patron of Spain; and became the founder of one of the most magnificent shrines, and of the most opulent order of knighthood, now existing in christendom.

The Legend of this invincible apostle is inserted in the Mosa∣rabic liturgy.

CHAP. clxxiii. A king goes to a fair, carrying in his train, a master with one of his scholars, who expose six bundles, con∣taining a system of ethics, to sale s 1.258.

Among the revenues accruing to the crown of England from the Fair of saint Botolph at Boston in Lincolnshire, within the HONOUR of RICHMOND, mention is made of the royal pavi∣lion, or booth, which stood in the fair, about the year 1280. This fair was regularly frequented by merchants from the most capital trading towns of Normandy, Germany, Flanders, and other countries.

"Ibidem [in feria] sunt quaedam domus quae dicuntur BOTHAE REGIAE, quae valent per annum xxviii, l. xiii, s. iiii, d. Ibidem sunt quaedam domus quas MERCA∣TORES DE YPRE tenent, quae valent per annum, xx, l. Et quaedam domus quas MERCATORES DE CADOMOt 1.259 ET OSTOGANIOu 1.260 tenent, xi, l. Et quaedam domus quas MER∣CATORES DE ANACOw 1.261 tenent, xiii, l. vi, s. viii, d. Et quae∣dam domus quas MERCATORES DE COLONIA tenent, xxv, l. x, s x 1.262."

The high rent of these lodges, is a proof that they were considerable edifices in point of size and accommodation.

CHAP. clxxiv. The fable of a serpent cherished in a man's bosom y 1.263.

About the year 1470, a collection of Latin fables, in six books, distinguished by the name of Esop, was published in Germany. The three first books consist of the sixty anonymous elegiac fables, printed in Nevelet's collection, under the title of Anonymi Fabulae Aesopicae, and translated in 1503, by Wynkyn de Worde, with a few variations: under each is a fable in prose on the same subject from ROMULUS, or the old prose LATIN

ESOP, which was probably fabricated in the twelfth century. The fourth book has the remaining fables of Romulus in prose only. The fifth, containing one or two fables only which were never called Esop's, is taken from Alphonsus, the GESTA RO∣MANORUM, the CALILA U DAMNAH, and other obscure sources. The sixth and last book has seventeen fables ex tran∣slatione Rinucii, that is Rinucius, who translated Planudes's life of Esop, and sixty-nine of his fables, from Greek into Latin, in the fifteenth century. This collection soon afterwards was cir∣culated in a French version, which Caxton translated into English.

In an antient general Chronicle, printed at Lubec in 1475, and entitled RUDIMENTUM NOVITIORUM y 1.264, a short life of Esop is introduced, together with twenty-nine of his fables. The writer says,

"Esopus adelphus claruit tempore Cyri regis Per∣sarum.—Vir ingeniosus et prudens, qui confinxit fabulas el••∣gantes. Quas Romulus postmodum de greco transtulit in la∣tinum, et filio suo Tibertino direxit, &c z 1.265."

The whole of this passage about Esop is transcribed from Vincent of Beauvais a 1.266.

CHAP. clxxvii. The feast of king Ahasuerus and Esther.

I have mentioned a metrical romance on this subject b 1.267. And I have before observed, that Thomas of Elmham, a chronicler, calls the coronation-feast of king Henry the sixth, a second feast of Ahasuerus c 1.268. Hence also Chaucer's allusion at the marriage of January and May, while they are at the solemnity of the wedding-dinner, which is very splendid.

Quene Esther loked ner with soch an eye On Assuere, so meke a loke hath she d 1.269.

Froissart, an historian, who shares the merit with Philip de Comines of describing every thing, gives this idea of the solemnity

of a dinner of Christmas-day, at which he was present, in the hall of the castle of Gaston earl of Foiz at Ortez in Bevern, under the year 1388. At the upper or first table, he says, ••ate four bishops, then the earl, three viscounts, and an English knight belonging to the duke of Lancaster. At another table, five abbots, and two knights of Arragon. At another, many barons and knights of Gascony and Bigorre. At another, a great number of knights of Bevern. Four knights were the chief stewards of the hall, and the two bastard brothers of the earl served at the high table.

"The erles two sonnes, sir Yvan of Leschell was sewer, and sir Gracyen bare his cuppe m 1.270. And there were many mynstrelles, as well of his owne as of straungers, and eche of them dyde their devoyre in their fa∣culties. The same day the erle of Foiz gave to harauldes and mynstrelles, the somme of fyve hundred frankes: and gave to the duke of Touraynes mynstrelles, gownes of clothe

of golde furred with ermyns, valued at two hundred frankes. This dinner endured four houres n 1.290."

Froissart, who was en∣tertained in this castle for twelve weeks, thus describes the earl's ordinary mode of supping.

"In this estate the erle of Foiz lyved. And at mydnyght whan he came out of his chambre into the halle to supper, he had ever before hym twelve torches brennyng, borne by twelve varlettes [valets] standyng before his table all supper o 1.291: they gave a grete light, and the hall ever full of knightes and squyers; and many other tables dressed to suppe who wolde. Ther was none shulde speke to hym at his table, but if he were called. His meate was lightlye wylde foule.—He had great plesure in armony of instrumentes, he could do it right well hym∣selfe: he wolde have songes songe before hym. He wolde gladlye se conseytes [conceits] and fantasies at his table. And when he had sene it, then he wolde send it to the other tables.—There was sene in his hall, chambre, and court, knyghtes and squyers of honour goyng up and downe, and talkyng of armes and of amours, &c p 1.292."

After supper, Frois∣sart was admitted to an audience with this magnificent earl; and used to read to him a book of sonnets, rondeaus, and virelays, written by a gentyll duke of Luxemburgh q 1.293.

In this age of curiosity, distinguished for its love of historical anecdotes and the investigation of antient manners, it is extraor∣dinary that a new translation should not be made of Froissart from a collated and corrected original of the French. Froissart is commonly ranked with romances: but it ought to be remem∣bered, that he is the historian of a romantic age, when those manners which form the fantastic books of chivalry were actually practised. As he received his multifarious intelligence from such a variety of vouchers, and of different nations, and almost al∣ways collected his knowledge of events from report, rather than from written or recorded evidence, his notices of persons and places are frequently confused and unexact. Many of these petty incorrectnesses are not, however, to be imputed to Froissart: and it may seem surprising, that there are not more inaccuracies of this kind in a voluminous chronicle, treating of the affairs of England, and abounding in English appellations, composed by a French∣man, and printed in France. Whoever will take the pains to compare this author with the coeval records in Rymer, will find numerous instances of his truth and integrity, in relating the more public and important transactions of his own times. Why he should not have been honoured with a modern edition at the Louvre, it is easy to conceive: the French have a national prejudice against a writer, who has been so much more com∣plaisant to England, than to their own country. Upon the whole, if Froissart should be neglected by the historical reader for his want of precision and authenticity, he will at least be valued by the philosopher for his striking pictures of life, drawn without reserve or affectation from real nature with a faithful and free pencil, and by one who had the best opportunities of obser∣vation, who was welcome alike to the feudal castle or the royal palace, and who mingled in the bustle and business of the world, at ••hat very curious period of society, when manners are very far refined, and yet retain a considerable tincture of bar∣barism. But I cannot better express my sentiments on this sub∣ject, than in the words of Montaigne.

"J'ayme les Historien••

ou fort simples ou excellens. Les simples qui n'ont point de quoy y mesler quelque chose du leur, et qui n'y apportent que le soin et la diligence de ramasser tout ce qui vient a leur notice, et d'enregistrer a la bonne foy toutes choses sans chois et sans triage, nous laissent le jugement entier pour la conois∣sance de la verité. Tel est entre autres pour example le bon Froissard, qui a marchè en son enterprise d'une si franche naïfueté, qu'ayant fait une faute il ne craint aucunement de la reconnoistre et corriger en l'endroit, ou il en a esté adverty: et qui nous represente la diversité mesme des bruits qui cou∣roient, et les differens rapports qu'on luy faisot. C'est la matiere de l'Histoire nuï et informe; chacun en peut faire son proffit autant qu'il a d'entendement r 1.294."

CHAP. clxxviii. A king is desirous to know how to rule himself and his kingdom. One of his wise men presents an alle∣gorical picture on the wall; from which, after much study, he acquires the desired instruction.

In the original eastern apologue, perhaps this was a piece of tapestry. From the cultivation of the textorial arts among the orientals, came Darius's wonderful cloth abovementioned e 1.295; and the idea of the robe richly embroidered and embossed with stories of romance and other imageries, in the unprinted ro∣mance of EMARE, which forms of one the finest descriptions of the kind that I have seen in Gothic poetry, and which I shall therefore not scruple to give at large.

Soon after, yn a whyle, The ryche kynge of Cesyle f 1.296 To the Emperour gan wende g 1.297; A ryche present wyth hym he browght, A clothe that was wordylyeh 1.298 wroght, He welcomed hym as the hende i 1.299.

Syr Tergaunte, that nobyll knyʒt, He presented the emperour ryʒt, And sette hym on hys kne k 1.300, Wyth that cloth rychyly dyght; Full of stones thar hyt was pyght, As thykke as hyt myght be: Off topaze and of rubyes, And other stones of myche prys, That semely wer to se; Of crapoutes and nakette, As thykhe as they sette, For sothe as y say the l 1.301. The cloth was dysplayed sone: The emperour loked thar upone And myght hytm 1.302 not se; For glysterynge of the ryche stone, Redy syght had he non, And sayde, how may this be? The emperour sayde on hygh, Sertes n 1.303, thys is a fayry o 1.304, Or ellys a vanyte. The kyng of Cysyle answered than, So ryche a jewellp 1.305 ys ther non In all crystyante. The amerayles dowʒter of hethenes q 1.306 Made thys cloth, withouten lees r 1.307,

And wroʒte hyt all wyth pryde; And portreyed hyt wyth grete honour, With ryche golde and asour s 1.308, And stones on ylkat 1.309 syde. And as the story telles yn honde, The stones that on this cloth stonde Sowʒtu 1.310 they wer full wyde: Seven wynter hyt was yn makynge, Or hyt was browght to endynge, In hert ys not to hyde. In that on korner made was YDOYNE and AMADAS w 1.311. Wyth love that was so trewe; For they loveden hemx 1.312 wyth honour, Portreyed they wer wyth trewe love flour Of stones bryght of hewe. Wyth carbunkull, and safere y 1.313, Kalsydonys, and onyx so clere, Sette in golde newe; Deamondes and rubyes, And othyr stones of mychyll pryse, And menstrellys wyth her gle z 1.314. In that othyr korner was dyght TRYSTRAM and ISOWDE so bryʒt a 1.315, That semely wer to se; And for they loved hem ryght, As full of stones ar they dyght, As thykke as they may be.—

In the thryddeb 1.316 korner wyth grete honour Was FLORYS and BLAUNCHEFLOUR c 1.317•• As love was hem betwene, For they loved wyth honour, Portrayed they wer with trewe loveflour, With stones bryʒht and shene.— In the fourth korner was oon Of Babylone the sowdans sonn, The amerayles dowʒter hym by: For hys sake the cloth was wrowght, She loved hym in hert and thowght, As testymoyneth thys storye. The fayr mayden her byforn, Was portrayed an unikorn, Wyth hys horn so hye; Flowres and bryddes on ylka syde, Wyth stones that wer sowght wyde, Stuffed wyth ymagerye. When the cloth to ende was wrowght, To the Sowdan soned 1.318 hyt was browʒt, That semely was of syʒte; My fadyr was a nobyll man, Of the Sowdan he hyt wan Wyth maystrye and wyth myʒte e 1.319.

Chaucer says in the ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, that RI∣CHESSE wore a robe of purple, which,

—Ful wele With orfraies laid was everie dele,

And purtraied in the ribaninges Of DUKIS STORIES and of KINGES f 1.320.

And, in the original,

Portraictes y furent d'orfroys Hystoryes d'empereurs et roys g 1.321.

CHAP. clxxix. Cesarius, saint Basil, the Gospel, Boethius, and Ovid, are quoted to shew the detestable guilt of gluttony and ebriety.

Cesarius, I suppose, is a Cistercian monk of the thirteenth century; who, beside voluminous Lives, Chronicles, and Ho∣milies, wrote twelve Books on the Miracles, Visions, and Ex∣amples, of his own age. But there is another and an older monkish writer of the same name. In the British Museum, there is a narrative taken from Cesarius, in old northern English, of a lady deceived by the fiends, or the devil, through the pride of rich clothing h 1.322.

CHAP. clxxx. Paul, the historian of the Longobards, is cited, for the fidelity of the knight Onulphus.

CHAP. clxxxi. The sagacity of a lion.

This is the last chapter in the edition of 1488.

Manuscript copies of the GESTA ROMANORUM are very numerous i 1.323. A proof of the popularity of the work. There are two in the British Museum; which, I think, contain, each one hundred and two chapters k 1.324. But although the printed copies have one hundred and eighty-one stories or chapters, there are many in the manuscripts which do not appear in the editions. The story of the CASKETTS, one of the principal incidents in Shakespeare's MERCHANT OF VENICE, is in one of the manuscripts of the Museum l 1.325. This story, however, is in

an old English translation printed by Wynkyn de Worde, with∣out date; from which, or more probably from another edition printed in 1577, and entitled A RECORD OF ANCIENT HYS∣TORYES in Latin GESTA ROMANORUM, corrected and bettered, Shakespeare borrowed it. The story of the BOND in the same play, which Shakespeare perhaps took from a translation of the PECORONE of Ser Florentino Giovanni m 1.326, makes the forty∣eighth chapter of the last-mentioned manuscript n 1.327. Giovanni flourished about the year 1378 o 1.328. The tale of Gower's FLO∣RENT p 1.329, which resembles Chaucer's WIFE OF BATH, occurs in some of the manuscripts of this work. The same may be said of a tale by Occleve, never printed; concerning the chaste consort of the emperor Gerelaus, who is abused by his steward, in his absence. This is the first stanza. A larger specimen shall appear in its place.

In Roman Actis writen is thus, Somtime an emperour in the citee Of Rome regned, clept Gerelaus, Wich his noble astate and his dignite Governed wisely, and weddid had he The douʒtir of the kyng of Vngrye, A faire lady to every mannes ye.

At the end is the MORALISATION in prose q 1.330.

I could point out other stories, beside those I have mentioned, for which Gower, Lydgate, Occleve, and the author of the DE∣CAMERON, and of the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE, have been indebted to this admired repository r 1.331. Chaucer, as I have before remarked, has taken one of his Canterbury tales from his col∣lection; and it has been supposed that he alludes to it in the following couplet,

And ROMAIN GESTIS makin remembrance Of many a veray trewe wife also f 1.332.

The plot also of the knight against Constance, who having killed Hermegild, puts the bloody knife into the hand of Con∣stance while asleep, and her adventure with the steward, in the MAN OF LAWES TALE, are also taken from that manuscript chapter of this work, which I have just mentioned to have been versified by Occleve. The former of these incidents is thus treated by Occleve.

She with this ʒonge childe in the chambre lay Every niʒt where lay the earle and the countesse s 1.333, Bitween whose beddis brente a lampe alway.

And he espied, by the lampes liʒt, The bedde where that lay this emprice With erlis douʒtur t 1.334, and as blyve riʒt, This feendly man his purpose and malice Thouʒteu 1.335 for to fulfille and accomplice; And so he dide, a longe knife out he drouʒe w 1.336, And ther with alle the maiden childe he slouʒe x 1.337.

Hir throte with the knyfe on two he kutte And as this emprice lay sleeping; Into her honde this bloody knyfe he putte, Ffor men shoulde have noon othir deemyng y 1.338 But she had gilty ben of this murdring: And whanne that he had wrouʒte this cursidnesse, Anoone oute of the chambre he gan hem dresse z 1.339.

The countess after hir slepe awakid And to the emperesse bedde gan caste hir look And sya 1.340 the bloody knyfe in hir hande nakid, And, for the feare she tremblid and quook.—

She awakens the earl, who awakens the empress.

And hir awook, and thus to hir he cried, "Woman, what is that, that in thin hand I see? "What hast thou doon, woman, for him that diede•• "What wickid spirit hath travaylid the?" And as sone as that adawed was she, The knyfe fel oute of hir hand in the bedde, And she bihilde the cloothis al forbledde,

And the childe dead, "Allas, she cried, allas, "How may this be, god woot alle I note howe, "I am not privy to hir hevy caas, "The gilte is not myne, I the childe not slowe b 1.341." To which spake the countesse, "What saist thou? "Excuse the not, thou maist not saie nay, "The knyfe all bloody in thin hand I say c 1.342."d 1.343

This story, but with some variation of circumstances, is told in the HISTORICAL MIRROUR of Vincent of Beauvais e 1.344.

But I hasten to point out the writer of the GESTA ROMA∣NORUM, who has hitherto remained unknown to the most dili∣gent enquirers in Gothic literature. He is Petrus Berchorius, or Pierre Bercheur, a native of Poitou, and who died Prior of the Benedictine convent of saint Eloi at Paris, in the year 1362.

For the knowledge of this very curious circumstance, I am obliged to Salomon Glassius, a celebrated theologist of Saxe∣Gotha, in his PHILOLOGIA SACRA f 1.345, written about the year 1623 g 1.346. In his chapter DE ALLEGORIIS FABULARUM, he censures those writers who affect to interpret allegorically, not only texts of scripture, but also poetical fables and profane histo∣ries, which they arbitrarily apply to the explication or confir∣mation of the mysteries of christianity. He adds,

"Hoc in studio excelluit quidam Petrus Berchorius, Pictaviensis, ordinis divi Benedicti: qui, peculiari libro, GESTA ROMANORUM, necnon Legendas Patrum, aliasque aniles fabulas, allegorice ac mystice exposuit h 1.347."

That is,

"In this art excelled one Peter Berchorius, a Benedictine; who, in a certain peculiar

book, has expounded, mystically and allegorically, the Roman GESTS, legends of saints, and other idle tales i 1.348."

He then quotes for an example, the whole one hundred and seventieth chapter of the GESTA ROMANORUM, containing the story of saint Bernard and the Dice-player, together with its moralisation.

Berchorius was one of the most learned divines of his country, and a voluminous writer. His three grand printed works are, I. REDUCTORIUM MORALE super totam Bibliam, in twenty∣four books. II. REPERTORIUM [or Reductorium] MORALE, in fourteen books k 1.349. III. DICTIONARIUM MORALE. Who∣ever shall have the patience or the curiosity to turn over a few pages of this immense treasure of multifarious erudition, will soon see this assertion of Glassius abundantly verified; and will be convinced beyond a doubt, from a general coincidence of plan, manner, method, and execution, that the author of these volumes, and of the GESTA ROMANORUM, must be one and the same. The REDUCTORIUM SUPER BIBLIAMl 1.350 con∣tains all the stories and incidents in the Bible, reduced into alle∣gories m 1.351. The REPERTORIUM MORALE is a dictionary of things, persons, and places; all which are supposed to be mystical, and which are therefore explained in their moral or practical sense. The DICTIONARIUM MORALE is in two parts, and seems principally designed to be a moral repertory for students in theology.

The moralisation, or moral explanation, which is added to every ar••••cle, is commonly prefaced, as in the GESTA, with the introductory address of CARISSIMI. In the colophon, the GESTA is called Ex gestis Romanorum RECOLLECTORIUM: a word much of a piece with his other titles of REPERTORIUM and REDUCTORIUM. Four of the stories occurring in the GESTA, The Discovery of the gigantic body of Pallas n 1.352, The subter∣raneous golden palace o 1.353, The adventures of the English knight in the bishoprick of Ely p 1.354, and The miraculous horn q 1.355, are related in the fourteenth book of the REPERTORIUM MORALE. For the two last of these he quotes Gervase of Tilbury, as in his GESTA r 1.356. As a further proof of his allegorising genius I must add, that he moralised all the stories in Ovid's Metamorphosis, in a work entitled, Commentarius MORALIS, five ALLEGORIAE in Libros quindecim Ovidii Metamorphoseon f 1.357, and now remaining in manu∣script in the library of the monastery of saint Germains s 1.358. He seems to have been strongly impressed with whatever related to the Roman affairs, and to have thought their history more in∣teresting than that of any other people. This appears from the following passage, which I translate from the article ROMA, in his DICTIONARIUM MORALE, and which will also contri∣bute to throw some other lights on this subject.

"How many remarkable facts might be here collected concerning the vir∣tues and vices of the Romans, did my design permit me to drop Moralities, and to enter upon an historical detail! For

that most excellent historian Livy, unequalled for the dignity, brevity, and difficulty of his style, (whose eloquence is so highly extolled by saint Jerome, and whom I, however unworthy, have translated from Latin into French with great labour t 1.359, at the request of John the most famous king of France,) records so many wonderful things of the prudence, fortitude, fidelity, and friendship, of the Roman people; as also of their quarrels, envy, pride, avarice, and other vices, which are indeed allied to virtues, and are such, to say the truth, as I never remember to have heard of in any nation besides. But because I do not mean to treat of historical affairs in the present work, the matter of which is entirely moral, I refer the historical reader to Livy himself, to Trogus Pom∣peius, Justin, Florus, and Orosius, who have all written his∣tories of Rome; as also to Innocent, who in his book on the Miseries of human nature u 1.360, speaks largely of the vices of the Romans w 1.361."

In the mean time we must remember, that at this particular period, the Roman history had become the grand object of the public taste in France. The king himself, as we have just seen, recommended a translation of Livy. French translations also of Sallust, Cesar, and Lucan, were now circu∣lated. A Latin historical compilation called ROMULEON was now just published by a gentleman of France, which was soon afterwards translated into French. A collection of the GESTA ROMANORUM was therefore a popular subject, at least it pro∣duced a popular title, and was dictated by the fashion of the times.

I have here mentioned all Berchorius's works, except his Comment on a Prosody called Doctrinale metricum, which was

used as a school-book in France, till Despauterius's manual on that subject appeared x 1.362. Some biographers mention his TROPO∣LOGIA, his COSMOGRAPHIA, and his BREVIARIUM. But the TROPOLOGIAy 1.363 is nothing more than his REDUCTORIUM on the Bible; and probably the BREVLARIUM is the same z 1.364. The COSMOGRAPHIA seems to be the fourteenth book of his RE∣PERTORIUM MORALE; which treats of the wonders of various countries, and is chiefly taken from Solinus and Gervase of Til∣bury a 1.365. He is said by the biographers to have written other smaller pieces, which they have not named or described. Among these perhaps is comprehended the GESTA: which we may conceive to have been thus undistinguished, either as having been neglected or proscribed by graver writers, or rather as having been probably disclaimed by its author, who saw it at length in the light of a juvenile performance, abounding in fantastic and unedifying narrations, which he judged unsuitable to his character, studies, and station b 1.366. Basilius Johannes Herol∣dus, however, mentions Berchorius as the author of a CHRONI∣CON, a word which may imply, though not with exact pro∣priety, his GESTA ROMANORUM. It is in the Epistle dedica∣tory of his edition of the Chronicles of Marianus Scotus, and Martinus Polonus, addressed to our queen Elisabeth; in which he promises to publish many Latin CHRONICA, that is, those of Godfrey of Viterbo, Hugo Floriacensis, Conrade Engelhus, Hermannus Edituus, Lanfranc, Ivo, Robert of Saint Victor, PETER BERCHORIUS, and of many others, qui de TEMPORI∣BUS scripserunt, who have written of times c 1.367. Paulus Langius,

who wrote about the year 1400, in his enumeration of Bercho∣rius's writings, says nothing of this compilation d 1.368.

Had other authentic evidences been wanting, we are sure of the age in which Berchorius flourished, from the circumstance of his being employed to translate Livy by John king of France, who acceded to the throne in the year 1350, and died in the year 1364. That Berchorius died, and probably an old man, in the year 1362, we learn from his epitaph in the monastery of saint Eloy at Paris, which is recited by Sweertius, and on other accounts deserves a place here.

HIC JACET VENERABILIS MAGNAE PRO∣FUNDAEQUE SCIENTIAE, ADMIRABILIS ET SUBTILIS ELOQUENTIAE, F. PETRUS BERCOTH e 1.369, PRIOR HUJUS PRIORATUS. QUI FUIT ORIUNDUS DE VILLA S. PETRI DE ITINEREf 1.370 IN EPISCOPATU MAILLIZANCENSIg 1.371 IN PICTAVIA. QUI TEMPORE SUO FECIT OPERA SUA SOLEMNIA, SCILICET DICTIONARIUM, REDUCTORIUM, BREVIATORIUM, DESCRIPTIONEM MUNDI h 1.372, TRANSLATIONEM CUJUSDAM LIBRI VETUTISSIMIi 1.373 DE LATINO IN GALLICUM, AD PRAECEPTUM EXCEL∣LENTISS. JOANNIS REGIS FRANCORUM. QUI OBIIT ANNO M. CCC. LXII k 1.374.

Berchorius was constituted grammatical preceptor to the no∣vices of the Benedictine Congregation, or monastery, at Clugni, in the year 1340 l 1.375. At which time he drew up his Notes on the Prosody, and his Commentary on Ovid, for the use of his scho∣lars. About the same time, and with a view of rendering their exercises in Latinity more agreeable and easy by an enter∣taining Latin story-book, yet resoluble into lessons of religion, he probably compiled the GESTA: perpetually addressing the application of every tale to his young audience, by the paternal and affectionate appellation of CARISSIMI m 1.376. There was there∣fore time enough for the GESTA to become a fashionable book of tales, before Boccace published his DECAMERON. The action of the DECAMERON being supposed in 1348, the year of the great pestilence, we may safely conjecture, that Boccace did not begin his work till after that period. An exact and ingenious critic has proved, that it was not finished till the year 1358 n 1.377.

I have just observed, that Berchorius probably compiled this work for the use of his grammatical pupils. Were there not many good reasons for that supposition, I should be induced to think, that it might have been intended as a book of stories for the purpose of preachers. I have already given instances, that it was antiently fashionable for preachers to enforce the several moral duties by applying fables, or exemplary narratives: and, in the present case, the perpetual recurrence of the address of CARISSIMI might be brought in favour of this hypothesis. But I will here suggest an additional reason. Soon after the age of

Berchorius, a similar collection of stories, of the same cast, was compiled, though not exactly in the same form, professedly de∣signed for sermon writers, and by one who was himself an emi∣nent preacher: for, rather before the year 1480, a Latin volume was printed in Germany, written by John Herolt a Dominican friar of Basil, better known by the adopted and humble appella∣tion of DISCIPULUS, and who flourished about the year 1418. It consists of three parts. The first is entitled

"Incipiunt Ser∣mones pernotabiles DISCIPULI de Sanctis per anni circu∣lum."

That is, a set of Sermons on the Saints of the whole year. The second part, and with which I am now chiefly con∣cerned, is a PROMPTUARY, or ample repository, of examples for composing sermons: and in the Prologue to this part the author says, that saint Dominic always abundabat exemplis in his dis∣courses, and that he constantly practiced this popular mode of edification. This part contains a variety of little histories. Among others, are the following. Chaucer's Friar's tale. Aris∣totle falling in love with a queen, who compels him to permit her to ride upon his back o 1.378. The boy who was kept in a dark cave till he was twelve years of age; and who being carried abroad, and presented with many striking objects, preferred a woman to all he had seen p 1.379. A boy educated in a desert is brought into a city, where he sees a woman whom he is taught to call a fine bird, under the name of a goose: and on his re∣turn into the desert, desires his spiritual father to kill him a goose for his dinner q 1.380. These two last stories Boccace has worked into one. The old woman and her little dog r 1.381. This, as we have seen, is in the GESTA ROMANORUM s 1.382. The son who will not shoot at his father's dead body t 1.383. I give these as specimens of the collection. The third part contains

stories for sermon writers, consisting only of select miracles of the Virgin Mary. The first of these is the tale of the chast•• Roman empress, occurring in the Harleian manuscripts of the GESTA, and versified by Occleve; yet with some variation t 1.384. This third part is closed with these words, which also end the volume.

"Explicit tabula Exemplorum in tractatulo de Ex∣emplis gloriose Virginis Marie contentorum."

I quote from the first edition, which is a clumsy folio in a rude Gothic letter, in two volumes; and without pagings, signatures, or initials. The place and year are also wanting; but it was certainly printed before 1480 u 1.385, and probably at Nuremburgh. The same author also wrote a set of sermons called Sermones de tempore w 1.386. In these I findx 1.387 Alphonsus's story, which in the GESTA RO∣MANORUM is the tale of the two knights of Egypt and Bal∣dach y 1.388; and, in Boccace's DECAMERON, the history of TITO and GESIPPO: Parnell's HERMIT z 1.389: and the apologue of the king's brother who had heard the trumpet of Death a 1.390: both which last are also in the GESTA b 1.391. Such are the revolutions of taste, and so capricious the modes of composition, that a Latin homily-book of a German monk in the fifteenth century, should exhibit outlines of the tales of Boccace, Chaucer, and Parnell••

It may not be thought impertinent to close this discourse with a remark on the MORALISATIONS, subjoined to the stories of the GESTA ROMANORUM. This was an age of vision and mystery: and every work was believed to contain a double, or

secondary, meaning. Nothing escaped this eccentric spirit of refinement and abstraction: and, together with the bible, as we have seen, not only the general history of antient times was ex∣plained allegorically, but even the poetical fictions of the classics were made to signify the great truths of religion, with a degree of boldness, and a want of a discrimination, which in another age would have acquired the character of the most profane levity, if not of absolute impiety, and can only be defended from the simplicity of the state of knowledge which then prevailed.

Thus, God creating man of clay, animated with the vital principle of respiration, was the story of Prometheus, wh•• formed a man of similar materials, to which he communicated life by fire stolen from heaven. Christ twice born, of his father God and of his mother Mary, was prefigured by Bac∣chus, who was first born of Semele, and afterwards of Jupiter. And as Minerva sprung from the brain of Jupiter, so Christ proceeded from God without a mother. Christ born of the Virgin Mary was expressed in the fable of Danae shut within a tower, through the covering of which Jupiter descended in a shower of gold, and begot Perseus. Acteon, killed by his own hounds, was a type of the persecution and death of our Saviour. The poet Lycophron relates, that Hercules in returning from the adventure of the Golden Fleece was shipwrecked; and that being devoured by a monstrous fish, he was disgorged alive on the shore after three days. Here was an obvious symbol of Christ's resurrection. John Waleys, an English Fr••nciscan of the thirteenth century, in his moral exposition of Ovid's Me∣tamorphoses c 1.392, affords many other instances equally ridiculous; and who forgot that he was describing a more heterrogeneous chaos, than that which makes so conspicuous a figure in his author's exordium, and which combines, amid the monstrous and indigested aggregate of its unnatural associations,

—Sine pondere habentia pondus d 1.393.

At length, compositions professedly allegorical, with which that age abounded, were resolved into allegories for which they were never intended. In the famous ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE, written about the year 1310, the poet couches the difficulties of an ardent lover in attaining the object of his passion, under the allegory of a Rose, which is gathered in a delicious but almost inaccessible garden. The theologists proved this rose to be the white rose of Jericho, the new Jerusalem, a state of grace, di∣vine wisdom, the holy Virgin, or eternal beatitude, at none of which obstinate heretics can ever arrive. The chemists pre∣tended, that it was the philosopher's stone; the civilians, that it was the most consummate point of equitable decision; and the physicians, that it was an infallible panacea. In a word, other professions, in the most elaborate commentaries, explained away the lover's rose into the mysteries of their own respective science. In conformity to this practice, Tasso allegorised his own poem: and a flimsy structure of morality was raised on the chimerical conceptions of Ariosto's ORLANDO. In the year 1577, a translation of a part of Amadis de Gaule appeared in France; with a learned preface, developing the valuable stores of profound instruction, concealed under the naked letter of the old romances, which were discernible only to the intelligent, and totally unperceived by common readers; who, instead of plucking the fruit, were obliged to rest contented with le simple FLEUR de la Lecture litterale. Even Spenser, at a later period, could not indulge his native impulse to descriptions of chivalry, without framing such a story, as conveyed, under the dark con∣ceit of ideal champions, a set of historic transactions, and an exemplification of the nature of the twelve moral virtues. He presents his fantastic queen with a rich romantic mirrour, which shewed the wonderous achievements of her magnificent ancestry.

And thou, O fairest princess under sky, In this fayre mirrour maist behold thy face,

And thine own realmes in Lond of Faery, And in this antique image thy great ancestry c 1.394.

It was not, however, solely from an unmeaning and a wanton spirit of refinement, that the fashion of resolving every thing into allegory so universally prevailed. The same apology may be offered for the cabalistical interpreters, both of the classics and of the old romances. The former not willing that those books should be quite exploded which contained the antient mythology, laboured to reconcile the apparent absurdities of the pagan system to the christian mysteries, by demonstrating a figurative resemblance. The latter, as true learning began to dawn, with a view of supporting for a while the expiring credit of giants and magicians, were compelled to palliate those monstrous incre∣dibilities, by a bold attempt to unravel the mystic web which had been wove by fairy hands, and by shewing that truth was hid under the gorgeous veil of Gothic invention.

Notes

• a 1.1

  SPECUL. HIST. Lib. iii. c. viii. ••ol. 31. b. edit. Ven. 1591.
• b 1.2

  MSS. HARL. 463. membran. fol.
• c 1.3

  Milton. AT A VACATION EXERCISE, &c.
• d 1.4

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 18. seq.
• e 1.5

  Printed, or reprinted, in 1688. 4to.
• f 1.6

  Lond. Printed for John Windet. 1606. 4to.
• g 1.7

  Act iii. pag. 39.
• h 1.8

  Much the same title occurs to a ma∣nuscript of this work in the Vatican,

  "Historiae Notabiles collectae ex Gestis Romanorum et quibusdam aliis libris cum explicationibus ••orundem."

  Mont∣fauc. Bibl. MANUSCR. tom. i. pag. 17. Num. 172.
• i 1.9

  Without initials, paging, signatures, or catch-words.
• k 1.10

  The first is of king Pompey, as be∣fore. The la••t is entitled De ADUL∣TERIO.
• l 1.11

  It h••s signatures to K k.
• m 1.12

  For which see supr. vol. ii. p. 15.
• n 1.13

  EDRIC was the name of ENOCH a∣mong the Arabians, to whom they attri∣bute many fabulous compositions. Herbe∣lot, in V. Lydgate's CHORLE and THE BIRD, mentioned above, is taken form the CLERICALIS DISCIPLINA of Alphonsus.
• o 1.14

  MSS. HARL. 3861. And in many other libraries. It occurs in old French vers••, MSS. DI••••. 86. membran.

  "L•• Romaunz de Peres Aunfour coment il aprist et chastia son fils belement."

  [See supr. vol. ii. EMEND. and ADD. at pag. 103.]
• p 1.15

  See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, vol. iv. p. 325. seq.
• q 1.16

  Milton's IL PENSEROSO.
• r 1.17

  Apud Vascosan. 4to.
• s 1.18

  MSS. RE••. 20 C i.
• t 1.19

  MS. 19 E. v.
• u 1.20

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 19.
• w 1.21

  Lib. v. fol. 122. b.
• y 1.22

  [See supr. vol. i. p. 132.] This I now cite from a Latin translation, without date, but evidently printed before 1500. It is dedicated to Guido Vere de Valen∣cia bishop of Tripoly, by his most humble Clerk, Philippus: who says, that he found this treatise in Arabic at Antioch, quo ••ar••bant L••••ini, and that therefore, and because the Arabic copies were scarce, he translated it into Latin••

  This printed copy does not exactly correspond with MS. BODL. 495. membr. 4to. In the last, Alexander's miraculous horn is mentioned at fol. 45. b. In the former, in ch. lxxii. The dedication is the same in both.
• z 1.23

  Lib. vii. cap. 93. seq. f. 86. b. edit. Ven.
• a 1.24

  See Caxton, GOLD. LEG. f. ccclxiii. b.
• b 1.25

  Sigh.
• c 1.26

  Felt.
• d 1.27

  Feet.
• e 1.28

  Sig••s.
• f 1.29

  High-street.
• g 1.30

  They sighed.
• h 1.31

  Feet.
• i 1.32

  Their.
• k 1.33

  Strait.
• l 1.34

  Found.
• m 1.35

  The true physician.
• n 1.36

  Heried. Blessed.
• o 1.37

  Hallowed.
• p 1.38

  Tarry.
• q 1.39

  High.
• r 1.40

  At his seat in the choir.
• s 1.41

  MSS. Coll. Trin. Oxon. Cod. 57. supr. citat.
• f 1.42

  HYSTOR. lxxxix. f. clviii. edit. 1479. fol. And in Vincent of Beauvais, who quotes GESTA ALLEXII. SPECUL. HIST. Lib. xviii. cap. 43. seq. f. 241. b.
• t 1.43

  In the Colophon.
• u 1.44

  Fol. 90. edit. 1493.
• w 1.45

  MSS. BODL. 1596. f. 4.
• x 1.46

  Ibid.
• y 1.47

  DECAM. D. ii. N. 2.
• z 1.48

  PROL. v. 342. See supr. vol. i. S••CT. xvii. p. 438.
• a 1.49

  HYSTOR. xxxii. f. lxii. a.
• b 1.50

  ACT. SANCTOR. tom. ii. JANUAR. p. 974. Antv. 1643.
• c 1.51

  SP••CUL. HIST. Lib. ix. c. 115. f. 115. Venet. 1591.
• d 1.52

  Fell out.
• e 1.53

  Caxton's GOLD. LEG. f. ccclxxxxviii.
• f 1.54

  BI••LIOTH. SELECT. Lib. i. cap. 25. p. 113. edit. 1593.
• g 1.55

  Fol. ccclxxxxvii. b.
• h 1.56

  See his LEGEND. AUR. fol. cccxv.
• i 1.57

  Ubi supr. f. lxxvi.
• k 1.58

  Fol.
• l 1.59

  Fol. See also

  "Legenda Sanctorum quae et LOMBARDICA dicitur."

  Lugd. 1509. fol.
• m 1.60

  Fol•• at Westminster. This is one of the ••••nest of Caxton's publications.
• n 1.61

  Bibl. MANUSCR. tom. ii. p. 1669. col. 2.
• o 1.62

  See BIBL. FR. de la Croix, &c. tom. i. p. 388. Amyot was a great translator of Greek books; but I fear, not always from the Greek. It is remarkable, that he wa•• rewarded with an abba••y for translating the THEAGENES and CHARICLEA of He∣liodorus: for writing which, the author was deprived of •• bishoprick. He died about 1580.
• q 1.63

  Sandford's English TRANSLAT. cap. 90. p. 159. a. edit. Lond. 1569. 4to.
• p 1.64

  ORIG. lib. xvi. cap. xv. p. 1224. Apud Auct. LING. LAT. 1602.

  Isidore's was a favorite R••PERTORY of the middle age. He is cited for an ac∣count of the nature and qualities of the Falcon, in the Prologue to the second or metrical part of the old Phebus de deduiz de la chass•• des B••stes sauvages et des oyseaux d•• Proye, printed early at Paris without date, and written, as appears by the ru∣bric of the last section, by Le Comte de Tankarville.
• r 1.65

  NAT. HIST. Lib. xxxvi. cap. xvi. p. 725. edit. Lugd. 1615.
• s 1.66

  DISSERT. ANTICHIT. ITAL. tom. i. c. xxiv. p. 287.
• t 1.67

  Ibid. p. 281.
• u 1.68

  Antw. Plantin. 1580. fol.
• w 1.69

  Lib. vii. f. 161. b. col. 1.
• x 1.70

  Fol. lxii. b.
• y 1.71

  See Lib. iv. cap. xxviii. Apud Mu∣ratorii SCR••PTOR. ITAL. i. p. 465. edit. Mediolan. 1723. Where she is called Ro∣milda. The king is Cacan, or Cacanus, a king of the Huns. There are some ••ine circumstances of distress in Paulus's de∣scription of this siege.
• z 1.72

  Fol. on vellum. It is not printed with moveable types: but every page is graved in wood or brass. With wooden cuts. It is a most beautiful book.
• a 1.73

  GOLDEN LE••. f. ccclxxxxvii. a. edit. 1493. The compilers of the SANCTILOG•• probably took this story from Paulus Dia∣conus, GE••T. LON••OBARD. ut supr. Lib. ii. cap. xxviii. p. 435. seq. It has been adopted, as a romantic tale, into the HIS∣TOIRES TRAGIQUES of Bellef••rest, p. 297. edit. 1580. The English reader may find it in Heylin's COSMOGRAPHI••, B. i. col. i. p. 57. And in Machiavel's HISTORY OF FLORENCE, in English, Lond. 1680. B. i. p. 5. seq. See also Lydgate's BOCHAS, B. ix. ch. xxvii.
• b 1.74

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 411.
• c 1.75

  For the necromancer Virgil, see supr. vol. ii. p. 229.
• d 1.76

  In the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE. Nov. vii.
• e 1.77

  SPECUL. HISTOR. Lib. iv. cap. 61. f. 66. a.
• f 1.78

  DIAR. ITAL. cap. xx. p. 288. edit. 1702. Many wonders are also related of Rome, in an old metrical romance called THE STACYONS OF ROME, in which Ro∣mulus is said to be born of the duches of Troye. MSS. Cotton. CALIO. A. 2. fol. 81.
• g 1.79

  Fulgen••ius.
• h 1.80

  Tragedies of BOCHAS, B. ix. ch. i. ••t. 4. Compare supr. vol. ii. p. 69.
• i 1.81

  CONFESS. AMANT. L. viii. f. clxxxix. a. col. 2.
• k 1.82

  See EMEND. and ADD. to vol. i. at p. 197.
• l 1.83

  Vol. i. p. 184.
• m 1.84

  Vol. iv. LE••. iv. p. 7. edit. 1655. 8vo••
• n 1.85

  PART i. p. 321. DIAL. ii. edit. Lond. 1668. 12mo. I must not forget that it occurs, as told in our GESTA, among a collection of Latin Apologues, quoted a∣bove, MSS. HARL. 463. fol. 8. a. The rubric is, D•• Angelo qui duxit Heremitam ad diversa Hospitia.
• o 1.86

  Ibid. p. 335.
• p 1.87

  i. 3.
• q 1.88

  Nov. lxxi.
• r 1.89

  The stories, perhaps fabulous, of the serpent fighting with his inveterate ene∣my the weazel, who eats rue before the attack begins, and of the serpent fighting with and being killed by the spider, ori∣ginate from Pliny, NAT. HIST. x. 84. xx. 13.
• s 1.90

  Art. Necromancy.
• t 1.91

  Wise.
• u 1.92

  Or earl.
• w 1.93

  War.
• x 1.94

  Stars.
• y 1.95

  Puppets.
• z 1.96

  Conquer.
• a 1.97

  Very. Re••l.
• b 1.98

  See Mr. Tyrwhitt's Chaucer's CANT. T. ver. 1281.
• c 1.99

  Each one.
• d 1.100

  Had great jealousy or anger.
• e 1.101

  Near thirty were gathered, or confe∣derated.
• f 1.102

  All resolved to destroy him.
• g 1.103

  Philip of Macedon.
• h 1.104

  Felde, Field. Army.
• i 1.105

  He did.
• k 1.106

  Enemies.
• l 1.107

  He made them ••ight.
• m 1.108

  He saw the harm fall on, or against, Himself.
• n 1.109

  Saw fly.
• o 1.110

  The great war of all these kings.
• p 1.111

  MSS. (Bod. Bibl.) LAUD. I. 74. f. 54.
• q 1.112

  Laid.
• r 1.113

  Covered.
• s 1.114

  In the romanc•• of ATI•• et PORPHI∣LION. Cod. Reg. Par. 7191.

  Un chemi•• de chaisil De ••il, et d'oevre moult soutil.
• t 1.115

  Perhap•• in SYR LAUNFAL, the same ••tuation is more eleg••ntly touched. MSS. Cotton. CALI••. A. 2. fol. 35. a.

  In the pavyloun he found a bed of prys, Y heled with purpure bys That semyly was of syʒte; With inne lay that lady gent••, That aft••r syr Launfal hadde sente, That lefsom beamed bryʒt: For hete her clothes doun she de••••. Almost to her gerdylstede; Than lay she uncovert: Sche was as whyt as lyly•• in May••, Or snowe that snoweth yn wynterys day•••• He seygh nevir non so pert, The rede rose whan sche is new•• Aʒen•• her rode n••s nauʒt of hew••, Y dar say yn sert Her hare schon as gold wyre, &c.
• x 1.116

  Wrung.
• y 1.117

  This is described above, f. 55••

  Of gold he made a table Al ful of steorron [stars].—

  An astrolable is intended.
• z 1.118

  Sprinkled.
• a 1.119

  Before day.
• b 1.120

  She.
• c 1.121

  Fly.
• d 1.122

  Dream.
• e 1.123

  Times.
• f 1.124

  Kissed her.
• g 1.125

  Fol. 57. The text is here given from MSS. BODL. ut supr. Compared with MSS. HOSPIT. LINCOLN. 150. See Gow∣er's CON••ESS. AMANT. Lib. vi. fo•••• cxxxviii. a. col. 1. seq.

  And through the crafte of artemage, Of waxe he forged an ymage, &c.

  Gower's dragon, in approaching the queen•• is courteis and debonaire.

  With al the cher•• that he maie, Towarde the bedde ther as she laie, Till he came to hir the beddes side And she lai•• still, and nothyng cride; For he did all hys thynges faire, And was curteis and debonaire.

  Ibid. col. 2. I could not resist the temp∣tation of transcribing this gallantry of a dragon. Gower's whole description of this interview, as will appear on comparison, seems to be taken from Beauvais,

  "Necta∣banus se transformat in illum draconis se∣ductiorem tractum, tricliniumque pene∣trat reptabundus, specie spectabilis, tum majestate totius corporis, tum etiam si∣bilorum acumine adeo terribilis, ut pa∣riete•• etiam ac fundamenta domus quati viderentur, &c."

  HIST. S••ECUL. fol. 41. b. ut supr. S•••• Aul. Gell. NOCT. ATT. ••ii. 1.
• h 1.126

  Edit. 1603. 4to. B. ii. ch. iv. p. 44•• seq.
• i 1.127

  For instance,

  "the Art and Mystery of Printing."
• k 1.128

  In a statute of Henry the eighth, in∣stead of the words in the last note, we ••ave

  "The Science and Craft of Print∣ing."

  Ann. reg. 25. A. D. 1533. For many reasons, My••••••ry answering to the Latin Myst••rium, never could have been originally applied in these cases.
• l 1.129

  MSS. Cod. Reg. Paris. 7539.
• m 1.130

  MIRAC. S. Ludov. edit. reg. p. 438.
• n 1.131

  Tom. v. Collect. Histor. Franc. pag. ••54. Thus expressed in the Latin AN∣NALES FRANCIAE, ibid. p. 56.

  "Horolo∣gium ••x aurichalco art•• mechanica miri∣fice compositum."
• o 1.132

  HI••T. CASI••. tom. ii. pag. 545. col. ii. Chart. ••nn. 1349.
• p 1.133

  R. R. v. 4172.
• q 1.134

  Ibid. v. 842.
• r 1.135

  I know not what ornament or imple∣ment of the antient horse-furnitur•• is here intended, unless it is a saddle-cloth; nor can I find this word in any glossary. But Sambu•• occurs, evidently under the very same signification, in the beautiful manu∣script French romance of GARIN, written in the twelfth century.

  Li palefrois sur coi la dame ••i••t Estoit plus blanc qu•• nule ••lor d•• li•••• Le loreins vaut mils ••ols pari••••s, Et la SAU••U•• nul pl•••• rich•• n•• vist.

  "The palfrey on which the lady sate, was whiter than any flower de lis: the bri∣dle was worth a thousand Parisian sols, and a richer Saubue never was seen."

  The French word however, is properly written Sambu••, and is not uncommon in old French wardro••e rolls, where it ap∣pears to be a female sadd••e-cloth, or hou∣sing. So in Le ROMAN DE LA ROSE.

  Comme royne fust vestue, Et chevauchast à grand SAMBUE.

  The Latin word, and in the same restrain∣ed sense, is sometimes SAMBUA, but most commonly SAMBUCA. Ordericus Vitalis, Lib. viii. p. 694. edit. Par. 1619.

  "Man∣nos et mulas cum SAMBUCI•• muliebribus prospexit."

  Vincent of Beauvais says, that the Tartarian women, when they ride, have CAMBUCAS of painted leather, em∣broidered with gold, hanging down on either side of the horse. SPECUL. HIST. x. 85. But Vincent's CAMBUCAS was originally written çambucas, or Sambucas. To such an enormity this article of the trappings of female horsemanship had arisen in the middle ages, that Frederick king of Sicily restrained it by a sumptuary law; which enjoined, that no woman, even of the highest rank, should presume to use a Sambu••a, or saddle-c••oth, in which were gold, silver, or pearls, &c. CONSTI∣TUT. cap. 92. Queen Olympias, in Da∣vie's G••ST of Alexander, ha•• a Samb••e of silk•• fol. 54. [Supr. vol. i. 221.]

  A mule also whyte so mylke, With sadel of golde, sambue of sylke, &c.
• s 1.136

  Of this fashion I have already given many instances. The latest I remember is in the year 1503, at the marriage of the princess Margaret.

  "In specyall the Erle of No••thumberlannd ware on a goodly gowne of tynsill, ••ourred with hermynes•• He was mounted upon a fayre courser, hys harnays of goldsmyth worke, and thorough thát sam was sawen small belles, that maid a mellodyous noyse."

  Leland. COLL•• ad calc. tom. iii. p. 276.

  In the NONNES PREESTES PROLOGUE, Chaucer from the circumstance of the Monke's bridle being decorated with bells, takes occasion to pu•• an admirable stroke of humour and satire into the mouth of the HOSTE, which at once ridicules that in∣consistent piece of affectation, and censures the monk for the dullness of his tale. Ver. 14796.

  Swiche talking is not worth a boter••••ie, For therin is ther no disport ne game: Therefore ••ire monke, dan Piers by your name, I pray you hert••ly tell us somwhat ••lles, Forsikerly, n'ere clinking of your belles That on your bridel ha••ge on every side, By heven king that for us alle dide, I shoulde or this have fallen down for slepe, Although the slough had been never so depe.
• t 1.137

  Saddle-bow. See supr. vol. i p. 165.
• u 1.138

  Breast••plate.
• x 1.139

  MS. fol. 40. a.
• y 1.140

  PROL. v. 165.
• z 1.141

  NOCT. ATT••C. Lib. v. cap. xiv. See another fabulous story, of which Appio•• was an eye witness, ibid. L. vii. cap. viii. It is of a boy beloved by a dolphin.
• a 1.142

  Vincent Beauvais, SPECUL. HIST. Lib. iv. c. 58. fol. 42. a.
• b 1.143

  PARAD. L. ix. 500.
• c 1.144

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 229. So in the romance, or LAY, of SYR LAUNFAL. MSS. Cotton. CALIG. A. 2. ••ol. 35. a.

  And whan he come to the forest on hyʒ, A pavyloun y teld he syʒ: The pavyloun was wrouth forsothe ywys All of werk of Sarsynys , The pomells of crystall.—

  On the top was a beast,

  Of bournedde golde, ryche and good, I••lorysched with ryche amall ; His eyen wer carbonkeles bryʒt, As the mon they schon anyʒt, That spreteth out ovir all: Alysaundre the conquerour, Ne kyng Artour yn hys most hend Ne hadde non scwych quell. He found yn the pavyloun, The kynges douʒter of Olyroun, Dame Triamour that hyʒte, Her fadyr was kyng of Fayre.

  And in the alliterative romance, called the SEGE OF JERUSALEM. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 122. b.

  Tytus tarriedde noʒte for that, but to the tempul rode. That was rayled in the roofe with rubyes ryche, With perles and with perytotes all the place sette, That glystered as coles in the fyre, on the golde ryche; Th•• dores with dyamondes dryven were thykke, And made also marveylously with margery perles, That ever lemede the lyʒt, and as a lampe shewed: The clerkes had none other lyʒte.—
• 1 1.145

  Saracen-work.
• 2 1.146

  Balls. Pinnacl••s.
• 3 1.147

  Enamel.
• 4 1.148

  Moon.
• 5 1.149

  Nought.
• 6 1.150

  On the ••inger of Becket, when he wa•• killed, wa•• a jewel called Peretot•• MONA••T•• ANGL. i. 6••
• 7 1.151

  Margarit••s.
• d 1.152

  The original is,

  "mulieres pulcherrimas in purpura et pallo operantes invenit."

  fol. L. a. col. 1. This may mean either the sense in the text, or that the ladies were cloathed in purpura et pallo, a phrase which I never saw before in barbarous latinity: but which tallies with the old English expression purple and pall. This is sometimes written purple pall. As in SYR LAUNFAL, ut supr. fol. 40. a.

  The lady was clad yn purpure palle.

  Antiently Pallium, as did Purpura, signified in general any rich cloth. Thus there were saddles, de pallio et ebore; a bed, de pallio; a cope, de pallio, &c &c. See Dufresne, LAT. GLOSS. V. PALLIUM. And PELLUM, its corruption. In old French, to cover a hall with tapestry was called paller. So in SYR LAUNFAL, u•• supr. fol. 40. a.

  Thyn halle agyrde, and hele [cover] the walles With ••lodes [clothes], and wyth ryche palles, A ʒens [against] my Lady Tryamour.

  Which also illustrates the former meaning. In A. Davie's GEST of Alexander we have,

  Her bed was made forsothe With pallis and with riche clothe, The chambre was hangid with clothe of gold. fol. 57.
• e 1.153

  B. ii. C. vii. st•• 34.
• f 1.154

  See DISS. i. And vol. i. 400. seq.
• g 1.155

  De GEST. REG. ANGL. lib. ii. cap. 10. p. 36. a. b. 37 a. b. edit. Savil. Lond. 1596. fol. Afterwards Malmesbury men∣tions his horologe, which was not of the nature of the modern clock: but which yet is recorded as a wonderful invention by his cotemporary Ditmar, CHRON. Lib. vi. fol. 83. edit. 1580. Vincent of Beau∣vais has transcribed all that William of Malmesbury has here said about Gerbert, SPECUL. HISTOR. Lib. xxiv. c. 98. seq•• f. 344. a. Compare Platina, VIT. PON∣TIF. fol. 122. edit. 1485. See also L'His∣toire Literaire de France•• by the Benedic∣tines, tom. vi. ad calc.
• h 1.156

  Courteous.
• i 1.157

  Alighted.
• k 1.158

  Instruments of music.
• l 1.159

  He saw at th•• high table.
• m 1.160

  A Fire, large and strong. Stor•• is flour.
• n 1.161

  Lighted, and burned bright.
• o 1.162

  Yede. Went into the door of the hall, with his horse.
• p 1.163

  Led.
• q 1.164

  Farther in.
• r 1.165

  To see, to view, every place or thing.
• s 1.166

  Perhaps, Holes, i. e. corners.
• t 1.167

  He saw no man.
• u 1.168

  Clothed in rich attire.
• w 1.169

  A torch fair and good.
• x 1.170

  To know, in angry mood what knight would, &c.
• y 1.171

  Painted glass.
• z 1.172

  The walls were painted with histories.
• a 1.173

  Had seen.
• b 1.174

  He sate down in the principal seat.
• c 1.175

  Were suddenly silent.
• d 1.176

  Tried. Excellent. Chaucer, RIM. SIR THOP. p. 146. Urr. v. 3361.

  With singer that is tri••.
• e 1.177

  Burned so bright.
• f 1.178

  Were instantly quenched, or extin∣guished.
• g 1.179

  Vanished away••
• h 1.180

  MSS. Cotton. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 52. b. seq.
• i 1.181

  Ibid. f. 52. b.
• k 1.182

  x. 1.
• l 1.183

  Nov. lxv.
• m 1.184

  Lib. v. fol. 96. a.
• n 1.185

  See Joan. Damasceni OPERA nonnul. HISTOR. ad calc. pag. 12. Basil. 1548. fol. The chests are here called Arcellae.
• o 1.186

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 17. And ibid. EM. and ADDIT. to pag. 342.
• p 1.187

  It is extant in Surius, and other col∣lections.
• q 1.188

  DE REGE AUEMUR, &c. Lib. xiv. f. 196. Ven. 1591. It contains sixty-four chapters.
• r 1.189

  In doctor Johnson's abridgement of a tale like this from Boccace, which he sup∣poses to have been Shakespeare's original, the king says, that in one of the Caskets was

  "contained his crown, sceptre and jewels, &c."

  See Steeven••'s SHAKE∣SPEARE, vol. iii. p. 255. edit. 1779.
• s 1.190

  MSS. LAUD. C. 72. Bibl. Bodl. Com∣pare Caxton's GOLDEN LEGEND•••• fol. ccclxxxxiii. b. And Surius, VIT. SANC∣TOR. Novembr. 27. Ann. 383. pag. 560. Colon. Agrippin. 1618.
• t 1.191

  MSS. BODL. 779. f. 292. b.
• u 1.192

  Thi•• fabl•• occur•• in an old Collec∣tion of Apologue•• above-cited, MSS. HA••L. 463. fol. 2. a.
• w 1.193

  COLL••CTAN. tom. iii. p. 149. edit. 1770.
• x 1.194

  Sir Placidas i•• the name of a knight in the FA••RIE QUE••NE.
• y 1.195

  Fol. cccxxiii. b. S•••• vol. ii. p. 190. And METRIC. LIVES S. MSS. Bodl. 779. f. 164. a.
• z 1.196

  CALIG.•• A. 2. fol. 135. b. Thi•• is a translation from the French. MSS. Reg. Paris. Cod. 3031.
• a 1.197

  See the MOZARA••ES, or Missal of saint Isidore, p••inted at Toledo, by the command of Cardinal Ximenes, A. D•• 1500. fol.
• b 1.198

  Indian silk. Cendal. Fr. See Dufresne, LAT. GL. V. CENDALUM.
• c 1.199

  Laced.
• d 1.200

  There might.
• e 1.201

  Velvet.
• f 1.202

  Furred. Pelura. Pellis.
• g 1.203

  Gris is fur. Gris and gray is common in the metrical romances.
• h 1.204

  Their heads.
• i 1.205

  More.
• k 1.206

  Ruddiness.
• l 1.207

  Such.
• m 1.208

  Cut.
• n 1.209

  MSS. Cotton. CALI••. A. 2. fol. 35. a.
• o 1.210

  SPECUL. HIST. xxiii. c. 162. f. ••29. b.
• p 1.211

  Nov. lxx••v.
• q 1.212

  P. 444. This work was translated into Engli•••• under the title of

  "Donies MORALL PHILOSOPHIE, translated from the Indian tongue, 1570."

  Black Letter with woodden cuts. 4to. But Doni was the Italian translator.
• r 1.213

  HIST. MA••. p. 179. Edit. Wats.
• s 1.214

  fol. 110. b.
• t 1.215

  Give thee.
• u 1.216

  Perhaps Almer, or Almere, a cabinet or chest.
• w 1.217

  Get. Find.
• x 1.218

  SYR LAUN••AL. MSS. Cott. CALI••. A. 2. fol 35. b.
• y 1.219

  Viz. MSS. S••LD. Sup. 53. Where is a prologue of many stanzas not printed by Browne. See also MSS. Dio••. 185. MSS. LAUD. K. 78. [See supr. vol. ii. 38.]
• z 1.220

  EGL. i.
• a 1.221

  Bibl. REG. Paris. MSS. Cod. 3031.
• a 1.222

  SATURNAL. Lib. i. c. 6. pag. 147. Londin. 1694.
• b 1.223

  In Vincent of Beauvais, there is a long fabulous History of Alexander, tran∣scribed partly from Simeon Seth. SPEC. HIST. Lib. iv. c. i. f. 41. a. seq. edit. Ven. 1591. fol.
• c 1.224

  De IR A. Lib. i. c. 8.
• d 1.225

  Ver. 7600. Tyrwh.
• e 1.226

  SPECUL. HIST. Lib. i. c. 64. fol. 9. b.
• f 1.227

  In the days of chivalry, a concert of a variety of instruments of music constant∣ly made a part of the solemnity of a splendid feast. Of this many instances have been given. I will here add another•• from the unprinted metrical romance of EMAR••. MSS. Cott. CALI••. A. 2. fol. 71. ••.

  Syre Ladore latte make a feste, That was sayre and honeste, With his lord the kynge; Ther was myche minstralse, Trompus, tabors, and sawtre, Both harpe, and fydyllynge: The lady was gentyll and small, In kurtell alone served in hall By fore that nobull kynge; The cloth upon her schone so bryʒth, When she was th••r yn dyʒth, She semed non erdly thynge, &c.

  And in Chaucer, JAN. AND MAY, v. 1234.

  Att everie cours came the loud min∣stralsie.
• g 1.228

  Lib. i. fol. xix. b. col. i.
• h 1.229

  Ubi supr. p. xlix.
• i 1.230

  OPP. ut supr. pag. 12.
• k 1.231

  See Caxton's GOLDEN LE••••NDE, fol. ccclxxxxiii. b. See also METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS, MSS. BODL. 779. f. 292. a.
• l 1.232

  It is printed Amon.
• m 1.233

  NOCT. ATTIC. Lib. xvi. cap. xix.
• n 1.234

  Lib. viii.
• o 1.235

  The printer of that name. He also translated from the French, at the desire of Edward duke of Buckingham, the ro∣mance of the KNYGHT OF THE SWANNE. See his PROLOGUE.
• p 1.236

  The tournament. To tourney is often called simply to play. As thus in SYR LAUNFAL, MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 37.

  Hym thoʒte he brente bryʒte But he my••te with Launfal pleye In the felde be tweene ham twey To justy or to fyʒte.

  And in many other places.
• q 1.237

  CAP. xi.
• r 1.238

  Fol. lxxii. b. col. 2.
• s 1.239

  HIST. LAT. Lib. iii. c. 8. pag. 552. edit. 1627. 4to.
• t 1.240

  CANTILENA•• VEL FABULAS DE AMA∣SIIS, &c. MS. Registr. Univ. Oxon. D. b. f. 76. See supr. vol. i. 92.
• u 1.241

  Leland. COLL. iii. p. 30.
• w 1.242

  Lib. v. fol. 99. b. col. 2. See fol. 101. a. col. 1. 2.
• x 1.243

  Nov. 50.
• y 1.244

  At Verona. 1480. By Peter Mauffer a Frenchman. It is a most beautiful and costly book, printed on vellum in folio.
• z 1.245

  COD. PSEUD••••IGR. VET. TESTAM. vol. i. p. 275.
• a 1.246

  Ver. 16993. Tyrwh.
• b 1.247

  The text says,

  "Such a one as is used at this day."
• c 1.248

  That is, Henry the First, king of England.
• d 1.249

  OPP. ut supr. p. 22. See also Suriu••, ut supr. Novembr. 27. pag. 565.
• e 1.250

  Fol. ccclxxxxii. b.
• f 1.251

  See Caxton's GOLDEN L••GEND•• ••ol. cccclxxxxiiii. a.
• g 1.252

  See Damascenus, ut supr. pag. 31. And METRICAL LIVES OF SAINTS, MSS. BODL. 779. f. 293. b.
• h 1.253

  See Caxton's GOLD. LEG. f. cxxix. b••
• i 1.254

  R. Edwards has a play on this story, 1582.
• k 1.255

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 120.
• k 1.256

  Stowe mentions Lydgate's

  "PIL∣GRIMAGE OF THE WORLD by the com∣maundement of the earle of Salisburie, 1426."

  But this must be a different work. Ad calc. Opp. Chauc. fol. 376, col. 1.
• l 1.257

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 194. I know not if this is the poem recited by Stowe and called,

  "The Courte of Sapience in hea∣ven for redemption of mankind."

  Ubi supr. col. i.
• s 1.258

  Compare Matth. Paris. edit. Watts. p. 927. 40.—And p. 751. 10.
• t 1.259

  Caen in Normandy.
• u 1.260

  Perhaps, Ostend.
• w 1.261

  Perhaps Le Pais d'Aunis, between the Provinces of Poictou and Santone, where is Rochelle, a famous port and mart.
• x 1.262

  Registr. HONORIS DE RICHMOND. Lond. 1722. fol. Num, viii. APPEND. p. 39.
• y 1.263

  This fable is in Alphonsus's CLERI∣CALIS DISCIPLINA.
• y 1.264

  In this work th•• following question is discussed, originally, I believe, started by saint Austin, and perhaps determined by Thomas Aquinas, An Angeli possi••t coir•• cum Muli••rib••••, ••t generar•• Gigantes?
• z 1.265

  Fol. 237. a.
• a 1.266

  SP••CUL. HIST. L. iii. c. ii.
• b 1.267

  Vol. ii. p. 178.
• c 1.268

  Vol. ii. p. 35.
• d 1.269

  MARCH TALE, v. 1260. Urr.
• m 1.270

  In the old romance, or LAY, of EMARE, a beautiful use is made of the Lady Emare's son serving as cup-bearer to the king of Galicia: by which means, the king discovers the boy to be his son, and in consequence finds out his queen Emare, whom he had long lost. The passage also points out the duties of this office. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. ••. f. 69. Emare says to the young prince, her son.

  To morrowe thou shall serve yn halle In a kurtyll of ryche palle , Byfore thys nobull kynge; Loke, sone , so curtois thou be, That no man fynde chalange to the In no manere thynge . When the kynge is served of spycerye, Knele thou downe hastylye, And take hys hond yn thyne; And when thou hast so done, Take the kuppe of golde, sone, And serve hym of the wyne. And what that he speketh to the Cum anon and tell me, On goddys blessyng and myne. The chylde wente ynto the hall Among the lordes grete and small That lufsume wer unther lyne •• Then the lordes, that wer grete, Wysh , and wente to her mete; Menstrelles browʒt yn the kours , The chylde hem served so curteysly, All hym loved that hym sy , And spake hym grete honowres. Then sayde all that loked hym upon, So curt••ys a chyld sawe they never non, In halle, ne yn bowres: The kynge sayde to hym yn game, Swete sone, what ys thy name? Lorde, he sayd, y hyʒth Segra∣mowres. Then that nobull kyng Toke up a grete sykynge , For hys sone hyght so: Certys, without lesynge, The teres out of hys yen gan wryng. In hert•• he was full woo: Neverthelese, he lette be•• And loked on the chylde so fre , And mykell he loved hem thoo .— Then the lordes that wer grete Whesshen aʒeyn , aftyr mete, And then com spycerye . The chyld, that was of chere swete, On hys kne downe he s••te , And served hem curteyslye. The kynge called the burgeys hym tyll, And sayde, Syr, yf hyt be thy wyll, Ʒyf me this lytyll body ; I shall hym make lorde of town and towre, Of hye halles, and of bowre, I love hym specyally, &c.
• 1 1.271

  A tunic of rich cl••th.
• 2 1.272

  Son.
• 3 1.273

  May accus•• thee of want of court••sy.
• 4 1.274

  The ••oy.
• 5 1.275

  ••••chly ••pparelled.
• 6 1.276

  W••shed.
• 7 1.277

  Cours••.
• 8 1.278

  Saw.
• 9 1.279

  I am c••ll••d.
• 1 1.280

  Sighing.
• 2 1.281

  Hi•• son.
• 3 1.282

  Eyen. Eye••.
• 4 1.283

  The boy so beautiful.
• 5 1.284

  Greatly.
• 6 1.285

  Then.
• 7 1.286

  Washed again.
• 8 1.287

  Spic••ry. Spi••••d Wine.
• 9 1.288

  Bow••d his knee.
• 10 1.289

  Give me this boy.
• n 1.290

  CRON. vol. ii. fol. xxxvi. a. Transl. Bern. 1523.
• o 1.291

  It appears that candles were borne by domestics, and not placed on the table, at a very early period in France. Gregory of Tours mentions a piece of savage mer∣riment practised by a feudal lord at sup∣per, on one of his valets de chandelle, in consequence of this custom. Greg. Turon. HIST. Lib. v. c. iii. fol. 34. b. edit. 1522. It is probable that our proverbial scoff, You are not ••it to hold a candl•• to him, took its rise from this fashion. See Ray's PROV. C. p. 4. edit. 1670. And Shakesp. ROMEO AND JULIET, i. 4.

  I'll be a Candle-holder, and look on.
• p 1.292

  Ibid. ••ol. xxx. a. col. 2.
• q 1.293

  Ibid. col. ••.
• r 1.294

  ESSAIS. Libr. i••. ch. x. p. 409. edit. 1598. 8vo.
• e 1.295

  CHA••. xx.
• f 1.296

  Sicily.
• g 1.297

  Went to.
• h 1.298

  Worthily.
• i 1.299

  Courteously. But, I beli••ve there i•• a slight corruption.
• k 1.300

  He presented it kneeling.
• l 1.301

  I tell thee.
• m 1.302

  Could not it.
• n 1.303

  Certainly.
• o 1.304

  An illusion, a piece of enchantment.
• p 1.305

  JEWEL was antiently any pretious thing.
• q 1.306

  The daughter of the Amerayle of the Saracens. AMI••AL in the eastern lan∣guages was the governor, or prince, of a province, from the Arabic EMIR, Lord. In this sense, AMRAYL is used by Robert of Gloucester. Hence, by corruption the word ADMIRAL, and in a restricted sense, for the commander of a fleet: which Milton, who knew the original, in that sense write•• AMMIRAL. PARAD. L. i. 294. Dufresne thinks, that our naval Amiral, i. e. Admiral•• came from the crusades, where the Chris∣tians heard it used by the Saracens (in consequence of its general signification) for the title of the leader of their fleets: and that from the Mediterran••an states it was propagated over Europe.
• r 1.307

  Lying.
• s 1.308

  Azure.
• t 1.309

  Every.
• u 1.310

  Sought.
• w 1.311

  On one corner, or side, was embroi∣dered the history of Idonia and Amadas. For their Romance, see supr. vol. ii. p. 24.
• x 1.312

  Loved each other.
• y 1.313

  Sapphire.
• z 1.314

  Figures of minstrels, with their mu∣sic, or musical instruments.
• a 1.315

  Sir Tristram and Bel I••olde, famous in king ARTHUR'S Romance.
• b 1.316

  Third.
• c 1.317

  See what I have said of their romance above, vol. i. p. 351. A manuscript copy of it in French metre was destroyed in the fire which happened in the Cotton Library. Boccace has the adventures of FLORIO and BIANCOFLORE, in his PHI∣LOCOPO. FLORIS and BLANCAFLOR are mentioned as illustrious lovers by Matfres Eymegau de B••zers, a bard of Languedoc, in his BREVIARI D'AMOR, dated in the year 1288. MSS. Re••. 19 C. i. fol. 199. See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, vol. iv. p. 169.
• d 1.318

  Soldan's son.
• e 1.319

  MSS. Cott. (ut supr.) CALI••. A. 2. fol. 69. ver. 80. seq.
• f 1.320

  Ver. 1076.
• g 1.321

  Ver. 1068.
• h 1.322

  MSS. HARL. 1022. 4.
• i 1.323

  See supr. vol. ii. p. 19.
• k 1.324

  MSS. HARL. 2270. And 5259.
• l 1.325

  Viz. CHAP. x••ix. ••ol. 78. b•• MSS. HARL. 2270. In the CLERI••ALIS DIS∣CIPLINA of Alphonsus, there is a narra∣tive of a king who kept a ••A••ULATOR, or story-teller, to lull him to sleep every night. The king on some occasion being seized with an unusual disquietude of mind, ordered his FABULATOR to tell him longer stories, for that otherwise he could not fall asleep. The FABULATOR begins a longer story, but in the midst falls asleep himself, &c. I think I have seen this tale in some manuscript of the GESTA ROMANORUM.
• m 1.326

  GIORN. iv. Nov. 5. In Vincent of Beauvais, there is a story of a bond be∣tween a Christian and a Jew; in which the former uses a deception which occa∣sions the conversion of the latter. HIST. SPECUL. fol. 181. a. edit. ut supr. Jews, yet under heavy restrictions, were origi∣nally tol••rated in the Christian kingdoms of the dark ages, for the purpose of bor∣rowing money, with which they supplied the exigencies of the state, and of mer∣chants, or others, on the most lucrative us••riou•• contracts.
• n 1.327

  Fol. 43. a. In this story MAGISTER VIRG••LIUS, or Virgil the cunning man, is consulted.
• o 1.328

  See Johnson's and Steevens's SHAK••∣SPEARE, iii. p. 247. edit. ult. And Tyr∣whitt's CHAUCER, iv. p. 332. 334.
• p 1.329

  CON••ESS. AMANT. Lib. i. f. xv. b. See supr. vol. ii. p. 31.
• q 1.330

  MSS. SELD. Sup. 53. Bibl. Bodl. De quadam bona et n••bili Imperatrice. It is in∣troduced with

  "A Tale the which I in the Roman dedis, &c."

  Viz. MSS. L••U••. ibid. K. 78. See also MSS. DIGB. 185. Where, in the first line of the poem, we have,

  "In the Roman je••••ys writen is this."

  It is in other manuscripts of Occleve. This story is in the GESTA ROMANORUM, MSS. HARL. 2270. chap. 101. fol. 80. a. Where Ger••laus is Menelaus.
• r 1.331

  Bonifacio Vannozzi, in D••lle LET∣TERE MISCELLAN••E alle Academia V••∣neta•• says, that Boccace borrowed [Nov. i. D. iii.] the Novel of Maseto da Lam∣porecchio, with many other parts of the DECAMERON, from an older Collection of Novels.

  "In uno libro de Novelle, et di Parlare Gentile, ANTERIORE al Boccacio, &c."

  In Venetia, 1606. 4to. pag. 580. seq. I believe, however, that many of the tales are of Boccace's own invention. He tells us himself, in the GENEALOGIA DEORUM, that when he was a little boy, he was fond of making FICTIUNCULAE. Lib. xv. cap. x. p. 579. edit. Basil. 1532. fol.
• f 1.332

  MARCHANT'S TALE, ver. 10158. edit. Tyrw. This may still be doubted, as from what has been said above, the ROMAN GESTS were the Roman history in general.
• s 1.333

  Here we see the antient practice, even in great families, of one and the same bed-chamber serving for many persons. Much of the humour in Chaucer's TROM∣PINGTON MILLER arises from this cir∣cumstance. See the Romance of SYR TRYAMORE. And Gower, CONF. AM. ii. f. 39. a.
• t 1.334

  Earl's daughter.
• u 1.335

  Thought.
• w 1.336

  Drew.
• x 1.337

  Sl••w.
• y 1.338

  Opinion.
• z 1.339

  He hastened, &c.
• a 1.340

  Saw.
• b 1.341

  Slew.
• c 1.342

  Saw.
• d 1.343

  Ut supr. viz. MS. SELD. SUP. 45. Qu. iiii.
• e 1.344

  SPECUL. HISTOR. Lib. vii. c. 90. fol. 86. a.
• f 1.345

  PHILOLO••IAE SACRAE, qua totius sa∣crosanctae veteris et novi testamenti scrip∣turae tum stylus et literatura, tum sensus et genuinae interpretationis ratio expendi∣tur, Libri quinque, &c. edit. tert. Francof. et Hamb. 1653.
• g 1.346

  From the date of the Dedication. For his other works, which are very nu∣merous, see the DIARIUM BIOGRAPHI∣CUM of H. Witte, sub Ann. 1665. Ge∣dani, 1688. 4to.
• h 1.347

  LIB. ii. Part. i. TRACTAT. ii. Sect. iii. Artic. viii. pag 312.
• i 1.348

  Salmeron, a profound school-divine, who flourished about 1560, censures the unwarrantable liberty of the GESTA RO∣MANORUM, in accommodating histories and fables to Christ and the church. COMM. in EVANGEL. HIST. i. pag. 356. PROL. xix. CAN. xxi.—Colon. Agrippin. 1602. fol.
• k 1.349

  I use a folio edition of all these three works, in three volumes, printed at Ve∣nice in 1583. These pieces were all printed very early.
• l 1.350

  This was first printed, Argentorat. 1473. fol. There was a very curious book in lord Oxford's library, I am not sure whether the same, entitled MORALI∣ZATIONES BIBLIAE, Ulmae 1474. fol. With this colophon in the last page. Infinita dei clementia. Finitus est liber Moralizatio∣num Bibliarum in ejusdem laudem et gloriam compilatus. Ac per indu••••rium Joannem Zei∣ner de Reutlingen Artis impressoriae ma∣gistrum non penna sed scagneis characteribus in oppido Ulmensi arti••icialiter ••ffigiatus. Anno Incarnationis Domini millesimo quadriu∣gentessimo septuag••ssimo quarto Aprilis nono. This book is not mentioned by Maittaire.
• m 1.351

  To this work Alanus de Lynne, a Carmelite of Lynne in Norfolk, wrote an Index or Tabula, about the year 1240. It is in MSS. RE••. 3 D. 3. 1.
• n 1.352

  CAP. xlix. f. 643. He quotes CHRO∣NICA, and says, that this happened in the reign of the emperor Henry the se∣cond. [See GEST. ROM. c. clviii.]
• o 1.353

  CAP. lxxii. f. 689. col. 1. 2. He quotes for this story [GEST. ROM. c. cvii.] William of Malmesbury, but tells it in the words of Beauvais, ut supr.
• p 1.354

  Fol. 610. col. 2. [GEST. ROM. c. clv.] Here also his author is Gervase of Tilbury: from whom, I think in the same chapter, he quotes part of king Arthur's Romance. See OTIA IMPERIAL. Dec. ii. c. 12.
• q 1.355

  Fol. 610. ut supr. [GEST. ROM. c. lxi.]
• r 1.356

  A MORALISATION is joined to these stories, with the introduction of CARIS∣SIMI.
• f 1.357

  See what he says of the Fabulae Poe∣tarum, REPERTOR. MORAL. lib. xiv. cap. i. f. 601. col. 2. ad calc.
• s 1.358

  Oudin. COMMENT. SCRIPTOR. EC∣CLES. iii. p. 1064. Lips. 1723. fol. I doubt whether this work was not tran∣slated into French by Guillaume Nangis, at the beginning of the fourteenth cen∣tury. See MEM. LIT. xx. 751. 4to.
• t 1.359

  I have mentioned this work before, vol. ii. p. 114. It is remarkable, that a copy of this manuscript in the British Mu∣seum is entitled,

  "TITUS LIVIUS Des FAIS DES ROMAINS translate par Pierre Bertheure."

  MSS. REG. 15 D. vi.
• u 1.360

  Pope Innocent the third, about the year 1200, wrote three Books De Contemptu Mundi, ••ive De Miseria humanae Conditionis, printed, Colon. 1496.
• w 1.361

  DICTION. MORAL. P. iii. vol. ii. f. 274. col. 2. edit. 1583.—S••e supr. vol. ii. p. 114.
• x 1.362

  Oudin, ubi supr.
• y 1.363

  I have seen a very old black-letter edition with the title,

  "Tropologiarum mysticarumque enarrationum, &c."

  Without date.
• z 1.364

  But see Bibl. Sangerm. Cod. MS. 687. And G. Serpilii VIT. SCRIPTOR. BIBLIC. tom. vii. part. 2. pag. 44. Also Possevin. APPARAT. SACR. ii. p. 241. Colon. 1608.
• a 1.365

  This is in some measure hinted by Oudin, ubi supr.

  "Egressus autem a PRO∣FANIS et grammaticis Berchorius, ani∣mum SOLIDIORIBUS applicuit, &c."
• b 1.366

  Gesner adds, reciting his works, that he wrote

  "alia multa."

  EPITOM. BIBL. f. 147. b. Tig. 1555. fol. And Trith••∣mius,

  "parvos sed multos tractatus."

  De ILLUSTR. BENED. Lib. ii. c. 131.
• c 1.367

  Dat. 1559. Edit. Basil. Oporin. No Date. fol.
• d 1.368

  CHRON. CITIZ. f. 841. Apud Pis∣torii ILLUSTR. VIT. SCRI••TOR. &c. Francof. 1583. fol. Compare the CHRON. of Philippus Bergom. ad ann. 1355.
• e 1.369

  Read BERCHEUR.
• f 1.370

  That is, of the village of saint Pierre du C••••min. Three leagues from Poictiers.
• g 1.371

  Of Maille••ais.
• h 1.372

  The COSMOGRAPHIA abovementioned.
• i 1.373

  Of Livy.
• k 1.374

  Sweertii EPITAPHIA Joco-seri••. edit. Colon. 1645. p. 158. It must not be dis∣sembled, that in the MORALISATION of the hundred and forty-fifth chapter, a pro∣verb is explained, vulgariter, in the Ger∣man language. Fol. 69. a. col. 2. And in the hundred and forty-third chapter, a hunter has eight dogs who have German names. Fol. 67. a. col. 1. seq. I sus∣pect, nor is it improbable, that those German words were introduced by a Ger∣man editor or printer. Mr. Tyrwhitt supposes, that we may reasonably conjec∣ture one of our countrymen to have been the compiler, because three couplets of English verses and some English n••mes, appear in many of the manuscripts. But these are not to be found in any of the Editions; and there is no answering for the licentious innovations of transcribers. CANT. T. vol. iv. 331.
• l 1.375

  Oudin. ubi supr. p. 1063.
• m 1.376

  This, by habit, and otherwise with no impropriety, he seems to have retained in his later and larger works.
• n 1.377

  See Tyrwhitt's CHAUCER, iv. 115. seq.
• o 1.378

  EXEMPL. lxvii. Sub litera, M.

  "De regina quae equitavit Aristotelem."

  He cites Jacobus de Vitriaco. [See supr. p. xix.]
• p 1.379

  EXEMPL. xxiv. Sub Litera, L.
• q 1.380

  Ibid. EXEMPL. xxiii. [See supr. p. l.]
• r 1.381

  EXEMPL. xii. Sub. lit. V.
• s 1.382

  CH. xxviii.
• t 1.383

  This is also in the GESTA, CH. xlv.—EXEMPL. viii. Lit. B.
• t 1.384

  See supr. p. lxxxiii.
• u 1.385

  For the second edition is at Nurem∣burgh, 1482. fol. Others followed, be∣fore 1500.
• w 1.386

  The only edition I have seen, with the addition of the S••••MONES DE SANC∣TIS, and the PROMPTUARIUM EXEMPLO∣RUM abovementioned, was printed by M. Fl••••cius, Argentin. 1499. fol. But there is an earlier edition. At the close of the last Sermon, he tells us why he chose to be styled DISCI••ULUS. Because,

  "non subtilia per modum MAGI••TRI, sed sim∣plicia per modum DISCIPULI, con∣scripsi et collegi."

  I have seen also early impressions of his SERMONES QUADRA∣GESIMALES, and of other pieces of the same sort. All his works were published together in three volumes, Mogunt. 1612. 4to. The EXAMPLES appeared separate∣ly, Daventr. 1481. Colon. 1485. Argen∣torat. 1489. 1490. Hagen. 1512. 1519. fol.
• x 1.387

  SERM. cxxi. col. ii. Signat. C 5.
• y 1.388

  CH. clxxi.
• z 1.389

  SERM. liii.
• a 1.390

  SERM. cix.
• b 1.391

  CH. lxxx. cxliii.
• c 1.392

  I have before mentioned Berchorius's OVID MORALISED.
• d 1.393

  M••TAM. L. i. 20.
• c 1.394

  B. ii. INTROD. St. vi.