RHODES, (HUGH.)-The Book of Nurture for men seruants and Children (with Stans puer ad mensam) newly corrected, very utile and necessary unto all youth. [Colophon.] Imprinted at London in Paules Church Yarde at the Signe of the Lamb by Abraham Veale. n.d. 4to, pp. 24, blk. lett.

Another extremely rare edition of this popular tract, not noticed by bibliographers, probably printed not much later than the preceding. It varies considerably from that impression, as will be perceived from a comparison. of the commencement of the poetical portion, the orthography of which is more modern than that of the former.

Al ye that would learn and then would be called wise
Obedience learn in youth, in age it wil auoid vice

I am blind in Poet's art, thereof I haue no skil.
All eloquence I put apart, and follow mine owne wil
Corrupt in speech my breeues and longs to know
Borne and bredd in Deuonshire my termes wil wel show
Take the best and leue the worst, of truth I meane noe ill
If the matter be not curious thintente is good mark it well
Pardon I aske if I offend thus boldely for to write
To master or seruant (yung and olde) I do my selfe submit
I would reforme both youth and age, if any thing be amis
To yow wil I shew my minde, reforme ye where need is
All that haue young people good maners set them to learne
To their elders w gentle conditiōs, let do nor say no harm
If they do il, wise men may report their Parents sone
How should they teach other good, belike thē salues canone
A good father maketh good childrē, if wisdō be the within
Such as of custome use it in youth, in age they will begin

We may here also mention another still more rare and valuable edition of this curious volume, quite unknown, printed by Thomas East, in oblong 4to, black letter, 1568, with several woodcuts, a copy of which, in the collection of the late Mr. Bright, No. 4718, sold for 167. 16s. This production from the press of East is much earlier than any other registered work by him, and a great curiosity. The present edition begins like the last, on the first page sig. A.1., but has only twelve leaves, whereas the former has thirteen. It is somewhat soiled on the first and last leaf, but is otherwise quite perfect.

It should be observed that the "Stans puer ad mensam" is an imitation

of one version of a poem under the same title, and printed several times in the sixteenth century. Compare it with a copy in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. i, p. 156, which commences:

My dere childe first thiself enable

With all thine harte to vertuous discipline
Afor thi souerayne standing at the table
Dispose thi youth aftir my doctrine.

Half bound in Russia.

RICHARD I.- Kynge Rycharde cuer du lyon.

Colophon. Thus endeth the story of ye noble kýge Rycharde cure de lyon. Imprynted at London in the Fletestrete at ye sygne of ye sonne by Wynkyn de Worde. The yere of our lorde M.ccccc. and xxviii (1528). 4to, blk. lett.

Of the valuable and interesting English metrical romance of "Kynge Rycharde cuer du lyon," three early editions are known to us - two printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 4to, blk. Lett., 1509 and 1528, and one by William Copland, 4to, blk. Iett., without date. They are each of them of the most extreme rarity. The present edition of this curious poem is of more importance than most of the ancient impressions of the metrical romances by our early printers, inasmuch as no perfect manuscript of it has yet been discovered; and it is almost unnecessary to observe that the text, being printed from MSS., or rather, perhaps, reprinted from one which was taken from a manuscript, is of great authenticity. The warlike exploits and chivalric virtues of the King of the Lion Heart were long great favourites of the English public, and the legend of the Lyon was a common article of the popular historical creed in the time of Shakespeare, who mentions, in the play of King John,

And again:

Richard that robb'd the lion of his heart
And fought the holy wars in Palestine.

Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose
Subjected tribute to commanding love.
Against whose fury and unmatched force

The awless lion could not wage the fight

Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.

He that perforce robs lions of their hearts,

May easily win a woman's.

The romance was originally composed in the Anglo-Norman language, and has been ascribed by Hearne, though probably without much reason, to the pen of Robert de Brunne; but it was translated into English verse at a very early period, an imperfect copy of the fourteenth century being preserved in the Auchinlech MS. in the Advocate's Library at Edinburgh. A later copy, also imperfect, is contained in a valuable MS. preserved in the library of Caius College, Cambridge, and was used by Weber in his edition of the work printed in his Metrical Romances, 1819, vol. ii, 8vo, the deficiencies having been supplied from an early printed edition, and a fragment belonging to the late Mr. Douce, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, No. ccxxviii. There is also a fourth manuscript, but imperfect like the others, being a mere fragment only, in the Harleian collection in the British Museum, No. 4690.

The title is printed in black letter, within a riband, over a woodcut frontispiece of King Richard in armour on horseback attended by his squire. On the reverse of the title is "The prologue," as follows:

Lorde kynge of glorye

Suche grace and suche vyctory
Thou sendest to kynge Rycharde
That neuer was founde cowarde
It is good to here jestes

Of his prowesse and his conquestes

Many romayns men make newe

Of good knyghtes and of trewe

Of theyr dedes men rede romauns
Bothe in Englonde and in Fraunce
Of Rowlande and of Olyuere
And of every desepere

Of Alysaunder and of Charlemayne

Of kynge Arthur and of Gawayne

How they were knyghtes good and curtoys

Of Turpyn and of Oger the danoys
Of troye men rede in ryme

What was by olde tyme

Of Hector and of Achylles

What folke they slewe in prees

In fraunce these rymes were wrought
Euery englysshe ne knewe it nought
Lewde man can frensshe none
Of an hondred unneth one
Neuertheles with gladde chere
Yf that ye wyll now here
Newe jestes I understonde
Of doughty knyghtes of Englonde
Therefore now I wyll you rede
Of a kynge doughty of dede
Kynge Rycharde was the beste
That is founde in ony Jeste
Now all that here this talkynge

God gyue them good endynge.

It is more than probable that, as Warton observes, the leisure of monastic life may have contributed to the production of this metrical romance; and that though originally derived from a French or Norman prototype, as nearly all our romances were, it was probably translated by a monk in some religious house. It is well known that the libraries of our monasteries abounded with tales and romances, and in the published contents of more than one of them we read of the Gesta Ricardi Regis, &c. We see from the prologue just quoted, the subjects named of some of those tales and "romances" which "men rede in ryme" in those days; but, above all, the Crusades introduced a new era and a new spirit and interest in our early heroic poetry. Many were the legends written about the Lion-hearted King so celebrated for his ardent love of chivalry; and his warlike achievements in the Holy Land were a favourite theme of the minstrels, whom he so munificently patronized and encouraged with his favour, and loaded with honours and rewards.

The work is divided into sixteen chapters, most of which are headed with a curious woodcut illustrative of the chief event therein described. The subjects of the chapters are here given :

"Here begynneth the hystorye of kynge Rycharde cure du lyon, and fyrst

of his byrth.

"How kynge Rycharde made a Justynge.

"How knyge Rycharde toke shyppynge.

"Of the loue bytwene ye kynges doughter and kynge Rycharde, and after

how ye kynge Rycharde slewe a lyon, and how he ete ye herte of the lyon all rawe, wherfore he had y name, stronge Rycharde cure de lyon.

"How kynge Rycharde sent for his ransome.

"How the kynge of fraunce betrayed kynge Rycharde.

"How thre of kynge Rychardes shyppes were perysshed in the see, and how the emperour put his men in pryson.

"How kynge Rycharde gaue batayll to the emperour and how y emperour fledde awaye for fere that he had, and there was slayne many of the emperours folke, and after that he wente streyght to Acrys. "How kynge Rycharde cutte a two a grete chayne, and how an Archebysshop tolde hym the sorowe that they had suffre[d] afore.

"How kynge Rycharde wan y cyte of Acrys.

"Yet of an other batayll, and how kynge Rycharde wan it, and also wan the cyte of Arsour.

"How kynge Rycharde asseyged the cyte of babyloyne, and how he wan it, and of two deuylles, that one in lykenes of [a] mare, and that other in lykenes of a colte, wherof y° sowdan sente ye colte to kynge Rycharde.

"How kynge Rycharde and the kynge of fraunce were wrothe togyder, and how ye kynge of fraunce wente home to his londe.

"How kynge Rycharde and his men made the walles of a cyte whiche

hyght chalens, and how the duke of astryche departed from him, bycause of ye rebuke he gaue hym bycause he wolde not do as he dyde, and how kynge Rycharde wan the castell of daron.

"How kynge Rycharde smote downe an ymage of marble, and how he slewe fyue sarasynes that were within ye sayd image, and of many other maters.

"How kynge Rycharde was slayne before the castell gaylande, and how the castell was wonne, and all were slayne that were therin." The peculiar circumstance from which the romance is designated, and to which Shakespeare was indebted for the allusion above quoted, is related in the fourth chapter of the poem. This achievement, which gave to Richard his distinguishing appellation, is related at large by Bishop Percy in his Essay on the Ancient Metrical Romances, in the third volume of the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, p. 17, edition 1812, and as it is one of the most striking events ascribed to King Richard, and will afford a favourable example of this interesting romance, it will probably not be unacceptable to the Reader.

King Richard, with two other knights, Foulke Doyley and Thomas of Multon, on their return from the Holy Land, travelling in disguise as