Scottish origin of the poem has not been gener- art of printing was introduced. Chaucer, in his ally accepted. It is believed to be the production Rhime of Sire Thopas, has parodied the style of of some minstrel who had heard Thomas of these compositions, and made 'mine host' in the Ercildoun recite his romance. Mr Garnet, a high Canterbury Tales abuse all such drafty rhyming' authority on early English dialects, concludes that as destitute of mirth or doctrine. the present Sir Tristrem is a modernised copy of The principal metrical chroniclers were two an old Northumbrian romance which was probably ecclesiastics—ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER and written between 1260 and 1300, and derived from ROBERT DE BRUNNE. The former was a monk a Norman or Anglo-Norman source, but the author of Gloucester, who lived in the reigns of Henry may have availed himself of the previous labours III. and Edward I. His chief work is a rhymed of Ercildoun on the same theme.

chronicle of England from the legendary age of An elaborate work of about 20,000 lines, The Brutus to the close of Henry III.'s reign, partly Romance of King Alexander, appears to have been taken from the fabulous history of Geoffrey of written previous to 1300. It has been ascribed, Monmouth, and written in the long line (or but erroneously, to ADAM DAVIE, marshal of couplet) of fourteen syllables. This monk also Stratford-le-Bow, near London. Davie, however, wrote poems on the Martyrdom of Thomas à was a voluminous versifier, and wrote Visions, The Becket, and the Life of St Brandan, and other Battle of Jerusalem, &c. Two romances, Havelok saints. His language is strongly Anglo-Saxonthe Dane, and William and the Werwolf, have ninety-six per cent., according to Mr Marsh—but been edited (1828 and 1832) by an able antiquary, he speaks of the prevalence of the French tongue. Sir Frederick Madden. The story of Havelok relates the adventures of an orphan child, son of England and the Normans about 1300. a Danish king; the author is unknown.

Thuse come, lo ! Engelond into Normannes honde ;

And the Normans ne couthe speke tho bote her owe Extract from Havelok.

speche, Hwan he was hosled 1 and shriuen,

And speke French as dude atom, and here chyldren

dude al so teche;
His quiste maked and for him gyuen,
His knictes dede he alle site,

So that heymen of thys lond, that of her blod come,

Holdeth alle thulke speche that hij of hem nome;
For throw them he wolde wite

Vor bote a man couthe French me tolth of hym wel lute;
How micte yem hise children yunge
Till that he couthen speken wit tunge ;

Ac lowe men holdeth to Englyss and to her kunde

speche yute.
Speken, and gangen, on horse riden,

Ich wene ther ne be man in world contreyes none
Knictes and sweynes bi here siden.

That ne holdeth to her kunde speche bot Engelond one.
He spoken there offe, and chosen sone

Ac wel me wot vor to conne both wel yt ys;
A riche man was, that, under mone,
Was the trewest that he wende-

Vor the more that a man con, the more worth he ys.
Godard, the kinges oune frende ;
And seyden, he moucthe hem best loke

Thus came, lo! England into Normans' hand;
Yif that he hem undertoke,

And the Normans could speak then but their own
Till hise sone mouthe bere

speech, Helm on heued, and leden ut here

And spake French as [they] did at home, and their

children did all so teach ; (In his hand a spere stark),

So that high men of this land, that of their blood come,
And king ben maked of Denmark.

Hold all the same speech that they of them took ;
When he was housled and shriven,

For but [except] a man know French men tell of him

well little;
His bequests made and for him given,

But low men hold to English and to their natural speech
His knights he made all sit,
For from them he would wit

yet.

I wene there not be man in world countries none
Who should keep his children young

That not holdeth to their natural speech but England
Till they knew how to speak with tongue ;

alone.
To speak, and walk, and on horse ride,

But well I wot for to know both well it is ;
Knights and servants by their side.
They spoke thereof, and chosen soon

For the more that a man knows, the more worth he is.
Was a rich man, that, under moon,

Mr Ellis, in his Specimens of the Early English
Was the truest that they kenned-
Godard, the ng's own friend;

Poets, praises Robert of Gloucester's description
And saying he might best o'erlook

of the first crusade, but the narrative is generally If their charge he undertook,

flat and prosaic. The following is a portion partly Till his son might [himself) bear

modernised :
Helm on head, and lead out there
(In his hand a spear stark),

The Muster for the First Crusade.
And king be made of Denmark.

A good pope was thilk time at Rome, that hecht? Urban, The Geste of King Horn, the romantic history Therefore he send preachers thorough all Christendom,

That preached of the creyserie, and creysed mony man. of Guy of Warwick (supposed to have been And himself a-this-side the mounts and to France come; written about 1292 by a Cornish friar, WALTER And preached so fast, and with so great wisdom, OF EXETER), Sir Bevis of Southampton, Richard That abo:at in each lond the cross fast me nome. Cæur de Lion, The King of Tars, La Morte In the year of grace a thousand and sixteen, Arthur, Sir Eglamour, and a host of other This great creyserie began, that long was i-seen. metrical romances, belong to this period, and most of so much folk nyme* the cross, ne to the holy lond go, of them were subsequently modernised when the Me ne see no time before, ne suth nathemo." 1 When he had the sacrament administered to him, and been

3

For self women ne beleved, that they ne wend thither fast,

Lordynges, that be now here, Ne young folk [that] feeble were, the while the voyage

If ye wille listene & lere y-last.

All the story of Inglande, So that Robert Curthose thitherward his heart cast,

Als Robert Mannyng wryten it fand, And, among other good knights, ne thought not be the

& on Inglysch has it schewed, last.

Not for the lerid bot for the lewed, He wends here to Englond for the creyserie,

For tho that in this land wonn, And laid William his brother to wed Normandy,

That the Latyn no Frankys conn, And borrowed of him thereon an hundred thousand mark,

For to haf solace & gamen To wend with to the holy lond, and that was some-deal

In felawschip when thai sitt samen.3 stark, ... The Earl Robert of Flanders mid 3 him wend also, Manning, or De Brunne, speaks of disours (Fr. And Eustace Earl of Boulogne, and mony good knight diseurs, reciters) and seggers, or sayers, in his day, thereto.

who recited metrical compositions, and took unThere wend the Duke Geoffrey, and the Earl Baldwin warrantable liberties with the text of the poets. there,

He did not write for them; he
And the other Baldwin also, that noble men were,
And kings syth all three of the holy lond.

Made nought for no disours,
The Earl Stephen de Blois wend eke, that great power

Ne for no seggers, no harpours, had on hond,

But for the love of simple men
And Robert's sister Curthose espoused had to wive.

That strange English cannot ken.
There wend yet other knights, the best that were alive ;
As the Earl of St Giles, the good Raymond,

The following is slightly modernised :
And Niel the king's brother of France, and the Earl
Beaumond,

Interview of Vortigern with Rowen, the beautiful And Tancred his nephew, and the bishop also

Daughter of Hengist. Of Podys, and Sir Hugh the great earl thereto;

Hengist that day did his might, And folk also without tale,4 of all this west end

That all were glad, king and knight.
Of Englond and of France, thitherward gan wend,

And as they were best in glading,
Of Normandy, of Denmark, of Norway, of Britain,
Of Wales and of Ireland, of Gascony and of Spain,

And well cup-shotten,4 knight and king,

Of chamber Rowenen so gent, Of Provence and of Saxony, and of Alemain,

Before the king in hall she went. Of Scotlond and of Greece, of Rome and Aquitain.

A cup with wine she had in hand,

And her attire was well farand.5 The good knight Robert Curthose was the

Before the king on knee set, bastard son of the Conqueror, and the monk thus And in her language she him gret. describes him :

'Laverd? king, wassail !' said she. Thick man he was enow, but he nas well long,

The king asked, What should be. Quarrys he was and well i-made for to be strong.

On that language the king ne couth. Therefore his father in a time i-see his sturdy deed,

A knight her language lerid in youth, The while he was young, and byhuld,? and these words

Bregh hight that knight, born Breton, said :

That lerid the language of Saxon.

This Bregh was the latimer, "By the uprising of God, Robelin, me shall i-see,

What she said told Vortiger.
Curthose my young son stalward knight shall be.'
For he was some deal short, he cleped him Curthose,

Sir,' Bregh said, “Rowen you greets,
And he ne might never est afterward thilk name lose.

And king calls and lord you leets. 10

This is their custom and their gest, Other lack had he nought, but he was not well long ;

When they are at the ale or feast, He was quaint of counsel and of speech, and of body

Ilk man that loves where him think, strong. Never yet man ne might, in Christendom, ne in Paynim,

Shall say, Wassail! and to him drink.
In battle him bring adown of his horse none time.

He that bids shall say, Wassail !
The tother shall say again, Drinkhail!

That says Wassail drinks of the cup,
ROBERT DE BRUNNE, or more properly ROBERT Kissing his fellow he gives it up.
MANNING, a native of Brunne or Bourn, in Drinkhail he says, and drinks thereof,
Lincolnshire, in the year 1303, translated, under Kissing him in bourd and skof.'
the name of Handlyng Synne, a French work by The king said, as the knight gan ken,
William de Waddington entitled Le Manuel des • Drinkhail,' smiling on Rowenen.
Pechiez. He afterwards (between 1327 and 1338)

Rowen drank as her list,
translated a French chronicle of England, which And gave the king, syne him kissed.
had been written by Piers or Peter de Langtoft, a

There was the first wassail in dede,

And that first of fame gaed. contemporary of his own, and an Augustine canon

Of that wassail men told great tale, of Bridlington, in Yorkshire. This chronicle

And wassail when they were at ale, comes down to the death of Edward I. in 1307.

And drinkhail to them that drank, The earlier part is translated from Wace's Brut.

Thus was wassail ta'en to thank. Manning has been characterised as an industrious, Fell sithes 11 that maiden ying and, for the time, an elegant writer, possessing, in Wassailed and kissed the king. particular, a great command of rhymes. The Of body she was right avenant, 12 verse adopted in his chronicle is shorter than that Of fair colour with sweet semblant. of the Gloucester monk, making an approach to the octosyllabic stanza of modern times. The

1 Not for the learned, but for the laymen and unlearned.

2 Know. 3 When they sit the same-sit together. language is also nearer modern English :

4 Well advanced in convivialities.

5 of good appearance. This phrase is still used in Scotland. 1 Even women did not remain. 2 To wed, in pledge, in pawn.

8 Had no knowledge. 3 With. 4 Beyond reckoning.

9 Interpreter.
10 Estcems.

11 Many times. Square. 6 Seeing his sturdy

deeds. 7 Beheld. 19 Graceful, beautiful.

B Greeted.

7 Lord.

9

RICHARD ROLLE, a hermit of the order of St both in this peculiarity and in its political characAugustine, and doctor of divinity, lived a solitary ter, characteristic of a great literary and political life near the priory of Hampole, four miles from revolution, in which the language as well as the Doncaster. He died in 1349. Rolle wrote metri- independence of the Anglo-Saxons had at last cal paraphrases of certain parts of Scripture, and gained the ascendency over those of the Normans. an original poem of a moral and religious nature, Piers is represented as falling asleep on the Malentitled The Pricke of Conscience, an elaborate vern Hills, and seeing in his sleep a series of work in seven books and nearly ten thousand visions; in describing these, he exposes the corlines. It was published for the Philological ruptions of society, and particularly the dissolute Society, edited by Mr Morris, in 1863. This lives of the religious orders, with much bitterness. poem is also in the Northumbrian dialect, many The first part of the work was written about 1362; words of which are still in use in Scotland—as it was enlarged in 1370, and still further enlarged thole, to bear; greeting, weeping; tine, lose; after 1378. Its great popularity induced some auld, old ; fae, foe; frae, from ; &c.

unknown writer to give a supplement in the same

alliterative verse, entitled Pierce the Ploughman's What is in Heaven.- From the 'Pricke of Conscience.' Crede, being a satire on the friars. Langland Ther is lyf withoute ony deth,

in his poem versifies the curious fable of the rats And ther is youthe without ony elde ;

conspiring to bell the cat, which figures in Scottish And ther is alle manner welthe to welde :

history of the time of James III. The alliterative And ther is rest without ony travaille ;

style of the work will be seen from the opening And ther is pees without ony strife,

lines : And ther is alle manner lykinge of lyf :

In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne, And ther is bright somer ever to se,

I shope me in shroudes as I a shepe were, And ther is nevere wynter in that countrie :

In habite as an heremite, unholy of workes, And ther is more worshipe and honour,

Went wyde in this world, wondres to here. Then evere hade kynge other emperour.

Ac? on a May mornynge, on Maluerne hulles, And ther is grete melodie of aungeles songe,

Me byfel a ferly of fairy, me thouhte;
And ther is preysing hem amonge.

I was wery forwandered, and went me to reste
And ther is alle manner frendshipe that may be, Vnder a brode bank by a bornes side ;
And ther is evere perfect love and charite;

And as I lay, and lened, and loked in the wateres, And ther is wisdom without folye,

I slombred in a slepyng, it sweyued so merye.
And ther is honeste without vileneye.
Al these a man may joyes of hevene call :

Warton and Ellis quote the following as a Ac yutte the most soveryn joye of alle

remarkable prediction of the Reformation (spelling Is the sighte of Goddes bright face, In wham resteth alle mannere grace.

simplified):

Ac now is Religion a rider, a roamer about, WILLIAM LANGLAND, author of The Vision

A leader of lovedays, and a lond-buyer, concerning Piers the Plowman, was the most

A pricker on a palfrey from manor to manor. vigorous, truly English, and popular of all the

An heap of hounds [behind him) as he a lord were : poets preceding Chaucer. He was born about And but if his knave kneel that shall his cope bring, 1332, supposed to be a native of Cleobury Mor- He loured on him, and asketh him who taught him timer, in Shropshire, and the son of a franklin courtesy? or freeman. He wore the clerical tonsure, prob- Little had lords to done to give lond from her heirs ably as having taken minor orders, and earned a To religious, that have no ruth though it rain on her

altars. precarious living by singing the placebo, dirige, and seven psalms for the good of men's souls. In many places there they be parsons by hemself at

ease ; He says he was married, and this may perhaps

Of the poor have they no pity: and that is her charity! explain why he never rose in the church. He

And they letten hem as lords, her lands lie so broad. has many allusions to his extreme poverty. Lastly,

Ac there shall come a King and confess you, Religious, he describes himself as being in Bristol in the

And beat you, as the Bible telleth, for breaking of year 1399, when he wrote his last poem. This is the last trace of him, and he was then about And amend monials [nuns), monks, and canons, sixty-seven years of age, so that he may not have And put hem to her penance long survived the accession of Henry IV. (Sep- And then shall the Abbot of Abingdon, and all his tember 1399). In personal appearance he was

issue for ever so tall that he obtained the nickname of Long Have a knock of a King, and incurable the wound. Will, as he tells us in the line : I have lyved in londe, quod I, my name is Long

Of the allegorical personification of Langland, Wille.*

we subjoin some short specimens : Langland's poem is one of the most important

Envy and Avarice, works that appeared in England previous to the

Envy, with heavy heart, asketh after shrift, invention of printing. It is the popular repre- And greatly his gustus beginneth to shew, sentative of the doctrines which were silently As pale as a pellet in a palsy he seemed ; bringing about the Reformation, and it is a I-clothed in a caramauri,? I could him not descrive, peculiarly national poem, not only as being a As a leek that had i-lain long in the sun, much purer specimen of the English language So looked he with lean cheeks ; loured he foul. than Chaucer, but as exhibiting the revival of the same system of alliteration which charac- 1 Shepe, shepherd; it oftener means sheep. terised the Anglo-Saxon poetry. It is, in fact, 6 Sounded so merry or pleasant. We may add that the late

editors of Piers the 'Ploughman divide the lines in the middle, • Introduction to Piers the Plocuman, edited by Rev. W. W. where a pause is naturally made. Skeat (Oxford, 1869).

6 Gustias, gestes, decds. 7 A worm-eaten garment.

your rule,

9 But. 4 A brook or burn.

3 A wonder.

11