NOTES.

NOTES.[The following notes are abridged from the notes in Sir F. Madden’s excellent edition, the abridgement being effected almost entirely by occasional omissions, and with but very slight unimportant changes of a few words, chiefly in the case of references to later editions of various works than were existing in 1828. I have added one or two short notes upon difficult constructions, but these are distinguished by being enclosed within square brackets. —W. W. S.]9.He was the wicteste man at nedeThat thurte riden on ani stede.This appears to have been a favourite expression of the poet, and to have comprehended, in his idea, the perfection of those qualifications required in a knight and hero. He repeats it, with some slight variation, no less than five times, viz. in ll. 25, 87, 345, 1757, and 1970. The lines, however, are by no means original, but the common property of all our early poetical writers. We find them in Laȝamon:þis wes þe feiruste monþe æuere æhte ær þusne kinedom,þa he mihte beren wepnen,& his hors wel awilden.Laȝamon, vol. i. p. 174.So also in the Romance ofGuy of Warwick:He was the best knight at needeThat euer bestrode any stede.Coll. Garrick, K. 9. sign. Ll. ii.Again, in theContinuation of Sir Gy, in the Auchinleck MS., (ed. for the Abbotsford Club, 1840, 4to; p. 266),The best bodi he was at nedeThat ever might bistriden stede,And freest founde in fight.And again, in theChronicle of England, published by Ritson from a copy in the British Museum, MS. Reg. 12. C.XII.After him his sone ArthurHevede this lond thourh and thourh.He was the beste kyng at nedeThat ever mihte ride on stede,Other wepne welde, other folk out-lede,Of mon he hede he never drede.—l. 261.The very close resemblance of these lines to those in Havelok, ll. 87-90, would induce a belief that the writer of theChroniclehad certainly read, and perhaps copied from, the Romance. The MS. followed by Ritson was undoubtedly written soon after the death of Piers Gaveston, in 1313, with the mention of which event it concludes; but in the Auchinleck copy it is continued, by a later hand, to the minority of Edward III. It only remains to be observed, that the poem in MS. Reg. 12. C.XII.is written by the same identical hand as the MS. Harl. 2253 (containingKyng Horn, &c.), whence some additional light is thrown on the real age of the latter, respecting which our antiquaries so long differed.[15.“And I will drink ere I tell my tale.”Her= ere.19.And wite, &c., i.e. And ordain that it may be so; cf. ll. 517, 1316. Both metre and grammar require the finale.]31.Erl and barun,drengand kayn.The appellation ofDreng, and, in the plural,Drenges, which repeatedly occurs in the course of this poem, is uniformly bestowed on a class of men who hold a situation between the rank ofBaronandThayn. We meet with the term more than once in Doomsday Book, as, for instance, in Tit. Cestresc: “Hujus manerii [Neuton] aliam terram xv. hom. quosDrenchesvocabant, pro xv. maneriis tenebant.” And in a Charter of that period we read: “Alger Prior, et totus Conventus Ecclesiæ S. Cuthberti, Edwino, et omnibus Teignis etDrengis, &c.” Hence Spelman infers, that the Drengs were military vassals, and held land by knight’s service, which was calledDrengagium. This is confirmed by a document from the Chartulary of Welbeck, printed in Dugdale,Mon. Angl.V.II.p. 598, and in Blount,Jocular Tenures, p. 177, where it is stated, “In eadem villa [Cukeney, co. Nottingh.] manebat quidam homo qui vocabatur Gamelbere, et fuit vetusDreyingheante Conquestum.” It appears from the same document, that this person held two carucates of land of the Kingin capite, and was bound to perform military service for the same, whenever the army went into Wales. In the Epistle also from the Monks of Canterbury to Henry II. printed by Somner, in his Treatise on Gavelkind, p. 123, we find: “Quia vero non erant adhuc tempore Regis Willelmi Milites in Anglia, sedThrenges, præcepit Rex, ut de eis Milites fierent, ad terram defendendam.” In Laȝamon’s translation of Wace the term is frequently used in the acceptation of thayn, and spelt eitherdringches,drenches,dranches, ordringes. [Cf. Sw.dräng, a man, servant; Dan.dreng, a boy.] In the Isl. and Su. Goth.Drengoriginally signifiedvir fortis,miles strenuus, and hence Olaf, King of Norway, received the epithet ofGoddreng. See Wormii Lex. Run. p. 26. Ihre, Vet. Cat. Reg.p. 109. Langebek, Script. Rer. Danic. V.I.p. 156. The term subsequently was applied to persons in a servile condition, and is so instanced by Spelman, as used in Denmark. In this latter sense it may be found in Hickes, Diction. Isl., and in Sir David Lyndsay’s Poems,Quhilk is not ordanit fordringisBut for Duikis, Empriouris, and Kingis.V. Pinkerton’sScotishPoems Reprinted, ii. 97.V. Jamieson, Dict.in voce.45.In that time a man that bore(Wel fyfty pund, y woth, or more.)This insertion receives additional authority from a similar passage in the Romance ofGuy of Warwick, where it is mentioned as a proof of the rigorous system of justice pursued by Earl Sigard,Though a man bore an hundred pound,Upon him of gold so round,There n’as man in all this landThat durst him do shame no schonde.Ellis,Metr. Rom.V.II.p. 9. Ed. 1811.Many of the traits here attributed to Athelwold appear to be borrowed from the praises so universally bestowed by our ancient historians on the character of King Alfred, in whose time, as Otterbourne writes, p. 52, “armillas aureas in bivio stratas vel suspensas, nemo abripere est ausus.” Cf.Annal. Eccl. Roffens.MS. Cott. Nero, D.II.The same anecdote is related of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, by Guillaume de Jumieges, and Dudon de Saint Quentin.91.Sprong forth so sparke of glede.Cf. l. 870. It is a very common metaphor in early English poetry.He sprong forð an stede,swa sparc ded of fure,Laȝamonv. ii. p. 565.He sprange als any sparke one glede.Sir Isumbras, st. 39 (Camd. Soc. 1844)He spronge as sparkle doth of glede,K. of Tars, l. 194.And lepte out of the arsoun,As sperk thogh out of glede.Ly Beaus Desconus, l. 623.Cf. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, l. 13833, and Tyrwhitt’s note.110.Of his bodi, &c. Compare the French text, l. 208.Mes entre eus n’eurent enfantMes qe vne fille bele;Argentille out non la pucele.Rois Ekenbright fut enfermez,Et de grant mal forment greuez;Bien siet n’en poet garrir.[HereArgentilleisGoldborough, andEkenbrightanswers toAthelwold. This quotation, and others below, shewing the passages of the French text which most nearly resemble the English poem, are from a MS. in the Herald’s College, marked E. D. N. No. 14. See the Preface.][118.Wat shal me to rede, lit. what shall be for a counsel to me. SeeRedein the Glossary toWilliam of Palerne.130.And don hem of þar hire were queme, lit. and do them off where it should be agreeable to her; i.e. and keep men at a distance as she pleased. Such seems to me the meaning of this hitherto unexplained line.132.Formewe ought probably to readhit.]136.He sendewritessone onon.We must here, and in l. 2275, simply understandletters, without any reference to the official summonses of parliament, which subsequently were so termed,κατ’ εξοχην. The wordbriefsis used in the same sense by the old French writers, and in Laȝamon we meet with some lines nearly corresponding with the present; see ll. 6669-6678.[175.þa. Frequently written forþat. SeeWilliam of Palerne.]189-203.Ther-on he garte, &c. Compare the French Romance, ll. 215-228.Sa fille li ad comandée,Et sa terre tote liuerée.Primerement li fet iurer,Veiant sa gent & affier,Qe leaument la nurrireit,Et sa terre lui gardereit,Tant q’ele fust de tiel ageQe suffrir porroit mariage.Quant la pucele seit granz,Par le consail de ses tenanz,Au plus fort home la dorroitQe el reaume troueroit;Qu’il li baillast ses citez,Ses chasteus & ses fermetez.263.Justises dede he maken newe,Al Engelond to faren thorw.The earliest instance produced by Dugdale of the Justices Itinerant, is in 23 Hen. II. 1176, when by the advice of the Council held at Northampton, the realm was divided into six parts, and into each were sent three Justices.Orig. Judic.p. 51. This is stated on the authority of Hoveden. Dugdale admits however the custom to have been older, and in Gervasius Dorobernensis, we find, in 1170, certain persons, calledinquisitores, appointed to perambulate England. Gervase of Tilbury, or whoever was the author of theDialogus de Scaccario, calls themdeambulantes, vel perlustrantes judices. See Spelman,in voc. The office continued to the time of Edward III., when it was superseded by that of the Justices of Assize.280.The kinges douther, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 283.Argentille,La meschine qu’ert sa fille,Que ia estoit creue & grant,Et bien poeit auoir enfant.[338.Sawe, put for “Say we.” Cf.biddifor “bidde i,” l. 484;hauedetfor “hauede it,” 714; &c.365.His quiste, &c. “His bequest made, and (things) distributed for him.”]433.Crist warie him with his mouth!Waried wrthe he of north and suth!So, in the Romance of Merlin, Bishop Brice curses the enemies of Arthur,Ac, for he is king, and king’s son,Y curse alle, and y domHis enemies with Christes mouth,By East, by West, by North, and South!Ellis,Metr. Rom.V.I.p. 260.[506.Fornouthwe must readmouthorwolde. The sense is— “He thought that he would he were dead, except that he might not (orwould not) slay him with his (own) hand.”550.The sense is— “When he had done that deed (i.e. gagged the child),thenthe deceiver had commanded him,” &c.560.withmay meanknowest, but this hardly gives sense. Perhaps we should readwilt, i.e. “As thou wilt have (preserve) my life.”567.Mr Morris suggests that the riming words areadounandcroune. We might then read—“And caste þe knaue so harde adoun,þat he crakede þer hise croune.”]591.Of hise mouth, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 71. sq.Totes les houres q’il dormoit,Vne flambe de lui issoit.Par la bouche li venoit fors,Si grant chalur auoit el cors.La flambe rendoit tiel odour,Onc ne sentit nul home meillour.676.And with thi chartre make (me) fre.Instances of the manumission of villains or slaves by charter may be found in Hickes,Diss. Epistol.p. 12, Lye’s Dict.ad calc., and Madox’sFormulare Anglicanum, p. 750. The practice was common in the Saxon times, and existed so late as the reign of Henry VIII.[694.Wite he him onliue, if he knows him (to be) alive.701.It is evident that the wordsand gate= and goats, must be supplied. For the spellinggate, cf.Pricke of Conscience, ed. Morris, l. 6134, wheregayteis used collectively as a plural.]706.Hise ship, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 89.Grim fet niefs apparailler,Et de viande bien charger.715-720.Hauelok the yunge, &c. Comp. the Fr. ll. 97-105.Quant sa nief fut apparaillée,Dedenz fist entrer sa meisnée,Ses cheualers & ses serganz,Sa femme demeine & ses enfanz:La reyne mist el batel,Haueloc tint souz son mantel.Il meismes apres entra,A Dieu del ciel se comanda,Del hauene sont desancré,Car il eurent bon orré.Instead of the storm, in the French text Grim’s ship is attacked by pirates, who kill the whole of the crew, with the exception of himself and family, whom they spare on the score of his being an old acquaintance.733-749.In Humber, &c. So in the Fr.Ceo fut el north, &c. Cf. ll. 122-135.Tant out nagé & tant siglé,Q’en vne hauene out parvenu,Et de la nief a terre issu.Ceo fut el North, a Grimesbi;A icel tens qe ieo vus di,Ni out onques home habité,Ne cele hauene n’ert pas haunté.Il i adresca primes maison,De lui ad Grimesbi a non.Quant Grim primes i ariua,En .ii. moitez sa nief trencha,Les chiefs en ad amont drescé,Iloec dedenz s’est herbergé.Pescher aloit sicome il soloit,Siel vendoit & achatoit.753.He took the sturgiun and the qual,And the turbut, and lax withal,He tok the sele, and the hwel, &c.The list of fish here enumerated may be increased from l. 896, and presents us with a sufficiently accurate notion of the different species eaten in the 13th century. Each of the names will be considered separately in the Glossary, and it is only intended here to make a few remarks on those, which in the present day appear rather strangely to have found a place on the tables of our ancestors. The sturgeon is well known to have been esteemed a dainty, both in England and France, and specially appropriated to the King’s service, but that the whale, the seal, and the porpoiseshould have been rendered palatable, excites our astonishment. Yet that the whale was caught for that purpose, appears not only from the present passage, but also from the Fabliau intitledBataille de Charnage et de Caresme, written probably about the same period, and printed by Barbazan. It is confirmed, as we learn from Le Grand, by the French writers; and even Rabelais, near three centuries later, enumerates the whale among the dishes eaten by the Gastrolatres. In the list of fish also published by Le Grand from a MS. of the 13th century, and which corresponds remarkably with the names in the Romance, we meet with theBaleigne. SeeVie Privée des François, T.II.sect. 8.Among the articles at Archbishop Nevil’s Feast, 6 Edw. IV., we find,Porposes and SealesXII.and at that of Archbishop Warham, held in 1504, is an item:De Seales & Porposs. prec. in grossXXVI.s.VIII.d.Champier asserts that the Seal was eaten at the Court of Francis I., so that the taste of the two nations seems at this period to have been nearly the same. For the courses of fish in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, see Pegge’sForm of Cury, and Warner’sAntiquitates Culinariæ, to which we may add MS. Sloane, 1986. [Cf.Babees Book, &c., ed. Furnivall, 1868, p. 153.][784.Forseteswe should probably readsetenorsette, which would be as good a rime as many others. The scribe has probably made the rime more perfect than the sense. It must mean, “In the sea were they oft set.” We cannot here supposesetes=set es= set them.]839.And seyde, Hauelok, dere sone.In the French, Grim sends Havelok away for quite a different reason, viz. because he does not understand fishing.903.The kok stod, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 242.Et vn keu le roi le retint,Purceo qe fort le vist & grant,Et mult le vist de bon semblant.Merueillous fes poeit leuer,Busche tailler, ewe porter.The last line answers to l. 942 of the English version.939.He bar the turues, he bar the star.The meaning of the latter term will be best illustrated by a passage in Moor’sSuffolk Words, where, under the wordBent, he writes, “BentorStarr, on the N.W. coast of England, and especially in Lancashire, is a coarse reedy shrub—likeoursperhaps—of some importance formerly, if not now, on the sandy blowing lands of those counties. Its fibrous roots give some cohesion to the silicious soil. By the 15 and 16 G. II. c. 33, plucking up and carrying awayStarror Bent, or having it in possession within five miles of the sand hills, was punishable by fine, imprisonment, and whipping.” The use stated in the Act to which theStarrwas applied, is, “making of Mats, Brushes, and Brooms or Besoms,” therefore it might very well be adapted to the purposes of a kitchen, and from its being coupled with turves in the poem, was perhaps sometimes burnt for fuel. The origin of the word is Danish, and still exists in the Dan.Stær, Swed.Starr, Isl.staer, a species of sedge, or broom, called by Lightfoot, p. 560,carex cespitosa. Perhaps it is this shrub alluded to in the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder, and this circumstance will induce us to assign its author to the district in which the Starr is found.The speris craketh swithe thikke,So doth on heggesterre-stike.—l. 4438.945.of alle men, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 254.Tant estoit franc & deboneire,Que tuz voloit lur pleisir fere,Pur la franchise q’il out.959.Of him ful wide the word sprong.A phrase which from the Saxon times occurs repeatedly in all our old writers. A few examples may suffice.Beowulf wæs breme,Blæd wíde sprang.Beowulf, ed. Thorpe, p. 2.Welle wide sprong þas eorles word.Laȝamon, l. 26242.Of a knight is that y mene,His name is sprong wel wide.Sir Tristrem, st. 2, p. 12.The word of Horn wide sprong,How he was bothe michel and long.Horn Childe, ap. Rits.Metr. Rom.V. iii. p. 291.See also theKyng of Tars, ll. 19, 1007,Emare, l. 256,Roland and Ferragus, as quoted by Ellis,Ly beaus Desconus, l. 172, andChronicle of England, l. 71.984.In armes him noman (ne) nam,þat he doune sone ne caste.The same praise is bestowed on Havelok in the French text, l. 265,—Deuant eus liuter le fesoientAs plus forz homes q’il sauoient,Et il trestouz les abatit—and it was doubtless in imitation or ridicule of the qualities attributed to similar heroes, that Chaucer writes of Sir Thopas, “Of wrastling was ther non his per.” Cant. Tales, l. 13670.1006.To ben þer at þe parlement.Cf. l. 1178. If we examine our historical records, we shall find that the only parliament held at Lincoln was in the year 1300, 28 Edw. I., and the writs to theArchbishop of York, and other Nobles, both ecclesiastical and secular, are still extant. The proceedings are detailed at some length by Robert of Brunne, Vol.II.p. 312, who might have been in Lincoln at the time, or, at all events, was sufficiently informed of all that took place, from his residence in thecounty. If we could suppose that the author of the Romance alluded to this very parliament, it would reduce the period of the poem’s composition to a later date, than either the style or the writing of the MS. will possibly admit of. It is therefore far more probable the writer here makes use of a poetical, and very pardonable licence, in transferring the parliament to the chief city of the county in which he was evidently born, or brought up, without any reference whatever to historical data.1022.Biforn here fet þanne lay a tre,And putten with a mikel ston, &c.This game ofputting the stone, is of the highest antiquity, and seems to have been common at one period to the whole of England, although subsequently confined to the Northern counties, and to Scotland. Fitzstephen enumerates casting of stones among the amusements of the Londoners in the 12th century, and Dr Pegge, in a note on the passage, calls it “a Welch custom.” The same sport is mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth, among the diversions pursued at King Arthur’s feast, as will appear in a subsequent note (l. 2320). By an edict of Edward III. the practice of casting stones, wood, and iron, was forbidden, and the use of the bow substituted, yet this by no means superseded the former amusement, which was still in common use in the 16th century, as appears from Strutt’sPopular Pastimes, Introd. pp. xvii, xxxix, and p. 56, sq. In the Highlands this sport appears to have been longer kept up than in any other part of Britain, and Pennant, describing their games, writes, “Those retained are, throwing theputting-stone, or stone of strength (Cloch neart) as they call it, which occasions an emulation who can throw a weighty one the farthest.”Tour in Scotl.p. 214. 4to. 1769. See alsoStatist. Account of Argyleshire, xi. 287. In the French Romance of Horn, preserved in MS. Harl. 527, is almost a similar incident to the one in Havelok, and would nearly amount to a proof, that Tomas, the writer of the French text of Horn, was an Englishman.In the Romance ofOctovian Imperatorit is said of Florent,Atwrestelyng, and atston castyngeHe wan the prys, without lesynge;Ther n’as nother old ne yyngeSo mochell of strength,That myght the ston to hysbutbryng,Bi fedeme lengthe.—l. 895.It is singular enough, that the circumstance of Havelok’s throwing the stone, mentioned in the Romance, should have been founded on, or preserved in, a local tradition, as attested by Robert of Brunne, p. 26.Men sais in Lyncoln castelle ligges ȝit a stone,That Hauelok kast wele forbi euerilkone.1077-1088.The king Athelwald, &c. Comp. the Fr. text, ll. 354-370.Quant Ekenbright le roi fini,En ma garde sa fille mist;Vn serement iurer me fist,Q’au plus fort home le dorroie,Qe el reaume trouer porroie.Assez ai quis & demandé,Tant q’en ai vn fort troué;Vn valet ai en ma quisine,A qui ieo dorrai la meschine; &c.1103.After Goldeborw, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 377.Sa niece lur fet amener,Et a Cuaran esposer;Pur lui auiler & honir,La fist la nuit lez lui gesir.The French Romance differs here very considerably from the English, and in the latter, the dream of Argentille, her visit to the hermit, and the conversation relative to Havelok’s parents, is entirely omitted.[1174.This may mean—“He (Havelok) is given to her, and she has taken (him)”—but this makesyafandtokpast participles, which they properly are not; or else we must translate it—“He (Godard) gave them to her, and she took them,” i.e. the pence. This alone is the grammatical construction, and it suits the context best; observe, that the wordsysandasare equivalent toes= them. Cf. l. 970. See Morris;Gen. & Exod., Pref. p. xviii.]1203.Thanne he komen there, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 556.A Grimesby s’en alerent;Mes li prodoms estoit finiz,Et la Dame q’is out nurriz.Kelloc sa fille i ont trouée,Vn marchant l’out esposée.The marriage of Kelloc, Grim’s daughter, with a merchant is skilfully introduced in the French, and naturally leads to the mention of Denmark. The plot of the English story is wholly dissimilar in this respect.1247.On the nith, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 381.Quant couché furent ambedui,Cele out grant honte de lui,Et il assez greindre de li.As deuz se geut, si se dormi.Ne voloit pas q’ele veistLa flambe qe de lui issist.The voice of the angel is completely an invention of the English author, and the dream (which is transferred from Argentille to Havelok) is altogether different in its detail.1260.He beth heyman, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 521.Il est né de real lignage,Oncore auera grant heritage.Grant gent fra vers li encline,Il serra roi & tu reyne.[1334.The wordseuere-il delare corruptly repeated from line 1330 above. Perhaps we should readwit-uten were, i.e. without doubt.]1430.Hauede go for him gold ne fe.Cf. l. 44. So in Laȝamon:Ne sculde him neoðer gon foreGold ne na gærsume, &c.;—vol. ii. p. 537.[1444.The French text helps but little to supply the blank. It shows that Havelok and his wife sailed to Denmark, and, on their arrival, sought out the castle belonging to Sigar, who answers to the Ubbe of the English version.]1632.A gold ring drow he forth anon, &c. A similar incident, and in nearly the same words, occurs in Sir Tristrem.A ring he raught him tite,The porter seyd nought nay,In hand:He was ful wis, y say,That first yave yift in land.—fytte i. st. 57, p. 39.So also Wyntoun, who relates the subsidy of 40,000 moutons sent from France to Scotland in 1353, and adds,Qwha gyvis swilk gyftyis he is wyse.[See alsoPiers Plowman, Text A. iii. 202.]1646.Hw he was wel of bones, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 743.Gent cors & bele feture,Lungs braz & grant furcheureEntentiuement l’esgarda.[1678.This line has two syllables too little.]1722.Thanne he were set, &c. This is an amplification of the Fr. l. 677, sq.Quant fut houre del manger,Et qe tuz alerent lauer,Li prodoms a manger s’assist,Les .iii. valez seeir i fist,Argentille lez son seignur;Serui furent a grant honur.1726.Kranes, swannes, veneysun, &c. We have here the principal constituents of what formed the banquets of our ancestors. The old Romances abound with descriptions of this nature, which coincide exactly with the present. SeeRichard Cœur de Lion, l. 4221;Guy of Warwick; The Squyr of Lowe Degre, l. 317; andMorte Arthure, ed. Perry, p. 7.“Wine is common,” says Dr Pegge, speaking of the entertainments of the 14th century, “both red and white. This article they partly had of their own growth, and partly by importation from France and Greece.” A few examples will illustrate this:He laid the cloth, and set forth bread,And also wine, bothwhite and red.Sir Degore, ap. Ellis,Metr. Rom.V. 3, p. 375.And dronke wyn, and eke pyment,Whyt and red, al to talent.Kyng Alisaunder, l. 4178.[Cf.Piers Plowman, Text B, at the end of thePrologue.]In theSquyr of Lowe Degreis a long list of these wines, which has received considerable illustration in the curious work of Dr Henderson.[1736.I printkiwing, as in Sir F. Madden’s edition; but I quite give up the meaning of it, and doubt if it is put forkirving. The word is obscurely written, and looks likekilþing, and my impression is that it is miswritten forilk þing, the wordþebeing put forþer, as frequently elsewhere. We should thus gethwan he haueden þer ilk þing deled, when they had there distributed every thing. This is, at any rate, the sense of the passage.]1749.And sende him unto the greyues.In the French, Havelok is simply sent to anostel, and thegreyvedoes not appear in the story.1806.Hauelok lifte up, &c. In the French, all the amusing details relative to Robert and Huwe Raven are omitted, and Havelok is made to retire to a monastery, where he defends himself by throwing down the stones on his assailants.[1826.wolde, offered at, intended to hit,wouldhave hit.]1838.And shoten on him, so don on bereDogges, that wolden him to-tere.The same comparison is made use of in the Romance of Horn Childe:The Yrise folk about him yode,As hondes do to bare.Rits.Metr. Rom.V.III.p. 289.SeeNote on l. 2320.[1914.“Cursed be he who cares! for they deserved it! What did they? There were they worried.” A mark of interrogation seems required afterdide he.]1926-1930.Sket cam tiding, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 719.La nouele vint a chastel,Au seneschal, qui n’est pas bel,Qe cil qu’il auoit herbergéCinc de ses homes out tué.[1932.Apparently corrupt. Perhapsisshould beit. “That this strife—as to what it meant.”]2045.That weren of Kaym kin and Eues.The odium affixed tothe supposed progeny of Cain, and the fables engrafted on it, owe their origin to the theological opinions of the Middle Ages, which it is not worth while to trace to their authors. SeeBeowulf, ed. Thorpe, p. 8; andPiers Plowman, A.X.135-156; answering to p. 177 of Whitaker’s edition. See also the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder:And of Sab the duk Mauryn,He was ofKaymes kunrede.—l. 1932.InYwaine and Gawaine, l. 559, the Giant is called “the karl ofKaymes kyn,” and so also in a poem printed by Percy, intitledLittle John Nobody, written about the year 1550.Such caitives count to be come of Cain’s kind.Anc. Reliq.V.II.p. 130. Ed. 1765.2076.It ne shal no thing ben bitweneThi bour and min, also y wene,But a fayr firrene wowe.These lines will receive some illustration from a passage in Sir Tristrem, where it is said,A borde he tok owayOf her bour.—p. 114.On which Sir W. Scott remarks, “The bed-chamber of the queen was constructed of wooden boards or shingles, of which one could easily be removed.” This will explain the line which occurs below, 2106, “He stod, and totede in at a bord.”2092.Aboute the middel, &c. In the French, a person is placed by the Seneschal to watch, who first discovers the light.2132.Bi the pappes he leyen naked.“From the latter end of the 13th to near the 16th century, all ranks, and both sexes, were universally in the habit of sleeping quite naked. This custom is often alluded to by Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, and all our ancient writers.” Ellis,Spec. Metr. Rom.V.I.p. 324, 4th Ed. In theSquyr of Lowe Degreis a remarkable instance of this fact:How she rose, that lady dere,To take her leue of that squyer;Al so naked as she was borneShe stod her chambre-dore beforne.—l. 671.The custom subsisted both in England and France to a very recent period, and hence probably was derived the phrasenaked-bed, illustrated so copiously by Archdeacon Nares in his Glossary.2192.Cf. the French, l. 843.Ses chapeleins fet demander,Ses briefs escriure & enseeler;Par ses messages les manda,Et pur ses amis enuoia;Pur ses homes, pur ses parenz;Mult i assembla granz genz.[2201.Readne neme= took not, sc. their way, just as in l. 1207.]2240-2265.Lokes, hware he stondes her, &c. Comp. the Fr. ll. 913-921.“Veez ci nostre dreit heir,Bien en deuom grant ioie aueir.”Tut primerain se desafubla,Par deuant lui s’agenuilla;Sis homs deuint, si li iuraQe leaument le seruira.Li autre sont apres alé,Chescuns de bone volenté;Tuit si home sont deuenu.2314.Vbbe dubbede him to knith,With a swerd ful swithe brith.So likewise in the Fr. l. 928,A cheualier l’out adubbé. The ceremony of knighthood is described with greater minuteness in the Romance ofLy beaus Desconus, l. 73; and seeKyng Horn, ed. Lumby, ll. 495-504.2320.Hwan he was king, ther mouthe men se, &c. Ritson has justly remarked, Notes toYwaine and Gawaine, l. 15, that the elaborate description of Arthur’s feast at Carlisle, given by Geoffrey of Monmouth, l. ix. c. 12, has served as a model to all his successors. The original passage stands thus in a fine MS. of the 13th century, MS. Harl. 3773. fol. 33b. “Refecti autem epulis diversos ludos acturi campos extra civitatem adeunt. Tunc milites simulachra belli scientesequestrem ludumcomponunt, mulieribus ab edito murorum aspicientibus. Aliicum cestibus, aliicum hastis, aliigravium lapidum jactu, aliicum facis, [saxis, Edd.] aliicum aleis, diversisque alii alteriusmodi jocis contendentes.” In the translation of this description by Wace we approach still nearer to the imitation of the Romance before us.A plusurs iuis se departirent,Li vns alerentbuhurder,E lur ignels cheuals mustrer,Li altre alerenteskermir,Vpere geter, vsaillir;Tels i-aueit kidarz lanconent,E tels i-aueit kilutouent:Chescon del gru [geu?] s’entremetaitDunt entremettre se saueit.MS. Reg. 13. A. xxi.The parallel versions, from the French, of Laȝamon, Robert of Gloucester, and Robert of Brunne, may be read in Mr Ellis’sSpecimens of Early English Poets. At the feast of Olimpias, described in the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder, we obtain an additional imitation.Withoute theo toun was mury,Was reised ther al maner pley;There was knyghtisturnyng,There was maidenes carolyng,There was championsskyrmyng,Of heom and of otherwrastlyng,Of liouns chas, ofbeore baityng,Andbay of bor, ofbole slatyng.—l. 193. Cf. l. 1045.Some additional illustrations on each of the amusements named in our text may not be unacceptable:1.Buttinge with sharpe speres.This is tilting, or justing, expressed in Wace bybuhurder. See Strutt’sSports and Pastimes, p. 96, sq. 108.2.Skirming with taleuaces.This is described more at large by Wace, in his account of the feast of Cassibelaunus. Cf.Laȝamon, v. i. p. 347; l. 8144. In Strutt’sSports and Pastimesis a representation of this game, taken from MS. Bodl. 264, illuminated between 1338 and 1344, in which the form of thetalevasis accurately defined. It appears to have been pursued to such an excess, as to require the interference of the crown, for in 1286 an edict was issued by Edward I. prohibiting all personsEskirmer au bokeler. This, however, had only a temporary effect in restraining it, and in later times, under the appellation ofsword and buckler play, it again became universally popular.3.Wrastling with laddes, puttinge of ston.See the notes on ll. 984 and 1022.4.Harping and piping.This requires no illustration.5.Leyk of mine, of hasard ok.Among the games mentioned at the marriage of Gawain, in the Fabliau ofLe Chevalier à l’Epée, we have:Cil Chevalier jeuent as tables,Et as eschés de l’autre part,O à lamine, o àhazart.Le Grand, in his note on this passage, T. i. p. 57, Ed. 1779, writes: “Le Hasard était une sorte de jeu de dez. Je ne connais point laMine; j’ai trouvé seulement ailleurs un passage qui prouve que ce jeu était tres-dangereux, et qu’on pouvait s’y ruiner en peu de tems.” It appears however from the Fabliau ofDu Prestre et des deuz Ribaus, to have been certainly a species ofTables, orBackgammon, and to have been played with dice, on a board calledMinete. The only passage we recollect in which any further detail of this game is given, is that of Wace, in the account of Arthur’s feast, Harl. MS. 6508, and MS. Cott. Vit. A. x., but it must be remarked, that the older copy 13 A. xxi. does not contain it, nor is it found in the translations of Laȝamon, or Robert of Gloucester.6.Romanz reding.See Sir W. Scott’s note on Sir Tristrem, p. 290, [p. 306, ed. 1811]; and the Dissertations of Percy, Ritson, and Ellis.7.Ther mouthe men se the boles beyte,And the bores, with hundes teyte.Cf. ll. 1838, 2438. Both these diversions are mentioned by Lucianus, in his inedited tractDe laude Cestriæ, MS. Bodl. 672, who is supposed byTanner to have written aboutA.D.1100, but who must probably be placed near half a century later. They formed also part of the amusements of the Londoners in the 12th century, as we learn from Fitzstephen, p. 77, and are noticed in the passage above quoted from the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder. In later times, particularly during the 16th century, these cruel practices were in the highest estimation, as we learn from Holinshed, Stowe, Laneham, &c. See Strutt’sSports and Pastimes, p. 192, and the plate from MS. Reg. 2. B. vii. Also Pegge’s Dissertation on Bull-baiting, inserted in Vol. ii. of Archæologia.8.Ther mouthe men se hw Grim greu.If this is to be understood of scenic representation (and we can scarcely view it in any other light), it will present one of the earliest instances on record of any attempt to represent an historical event, or to depart from the religious performances, which until a much later period were the chief, and almost only, efforts towards the formation of the drama. Of course, the words of the writer must be understood to refer to the period in which he lived, i.e. according to our supposition, about the end of Hen. III’s reign, or beginning of Edw. I. See Le Grand’s notes to theLai de Courtois, V. i. p. 329, and Strutt’sSports and Pastimes, B. 3, ch. 2.2344.The feste fourti dawes sat.Cf. l. 2950. This is borrowed also from Geoffrey, and is the usual term of duration fixed in the Romances.Fourty dayes hy helden feste,Ryche, ryall, and oneste.Octouian Imperator, l. 73.Fourty dayes leste the feste.Launfal, l. 631.And certaynly, as the story sayes,The revell lasted forty dayes.Squyr of Lowe Degre, l. 1113.2384.The French story here differs wholly from the English. Instead of the encounter of Robert and Godard, and the cruel punishment inflicted on the latter, in the French is a regular battle between the forces of Havelok and Hodulf (Godard). A single combat takes place between the two leaders, in which Hodulf is slain.2450.Cf. ll. 2505 and 2822. This appears to have been a common, but barbarous, method in former times of leading traitors or malefactors to execution. Thus in the Romance of Kyng Alisaunder, the treatment of the murderers of Darius is described:He dude quyk harnesche hors,And sette theron heore cors,Hyndeforth they seten, saun faile;In heore hand they hulden theo tailes.—l. 4708.2461.We find a similar proverb in theHistorie de Melusine, tirée des Chroniques de Poitou, &c. 12mo. Par. 1698, in which (at p. 72) Thierry, Duke of Bretagne, says to Raimondin;— “Vous autorisez par votre silencenotre Proverbe, qui dit,Qu’un vieux peché fait nouvelle vergogne.”2513.Sket was seysed, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 971.Apres cest fet, ad receuLe regne q’a son piere fu.2516.And the king ful sone it yafVbbe in the hond, wit a fayr staf.So inSir Tristrem:Rohant he yafthe wand,And bad him sitte him bi,That fre;‘Rohant lord mak yTo held this lond of me.’—fytte i. st. 83; p. 52.The editor is clearly mistaken in explaining thewandto be atruncheon, orsymbol of power. For the custom of giving seisin or investitureper fustim, andper baculum, see Madox’sFormul. Anglican.pref. p. ix. and Spelman, Gloss. in v.Investire, andTraditio. The same usage existed in France,par rain et par baton.2521.——of monekes blakeA priorie to seruen inne ay.The allusion here may be made either to the Abbey of Wellow, in Grimsby, which was a monastery ofBlack Canons, said to have been built aboutA.D.1110, or (what is more probable) to the Augustine Friary of Black Monks, which is stated in theMonumental Antiquities of Grimsby, by the Rev. G. Oliver, to have been “foundedaboutthe year 1280,” p. 110. No notice of it occurs in Tanner till the year 1304. Pat. 33 Edw. I. Some old walls of this edifice, which was dissolved in 1543, still remain, and the site is still called “The Friars.” If the connection between this foundation and the one recorded in the poem be considered valid, the date of the composition must be referred torathera later period than we wish to admit.2530.The French supplies what is here omitted, viz. that Havelok sails to England by the persuasion of his wife.[Indeed, ll. 979-1006 of the French text may serve to fill up the evident gap in the story; a translation of the passage is added, to shew this more clearly.Quant Haueloc est rois pussanz,Le regne tint plus de .iiii. anz;Merueillos tresor i auna.Argentille li commandaQu’il passast en EngleterrePur son heritage conquerre,Dont son oncle l’out engettée,[Et] A grant tort desheritée.When Havelok is a mighty king,He reigned more than 4 years,Marvellous treasure he amassed.Argentille (Goldborough) bade himPass into EnglandTo conquer her heritage,Whence her uncle had cast her out,And very wrongly disinherited her.Li rois li dist qu’il feraCeo qu’ele li comandera.Sa nauie fet a-turner,Ses genz & ses ostz mander.En mier se met quant orré a,Et la reyne od lui mena.Quatre vinz & quatre cenzOut Haueloc, pleines de genz.Tant out nagé & siglé,Q’en Carleflure est ariué.Sur le hauene se herbergerent,Par le pais viande quierent.The king told her that he would doThat which she should command him.He got ready his fleet,And sent for his men and his hosts.He puts to sea when he has prayed,And took the queen with him.Four score and four hundred (ships)Had Havelok, full of men.So far has he steered and sailedThat he has arrived at Carleflure.Hard by the haven they abode,And sought food in the country round.Puis enuoia li noble rois,Par le consail de ses Danois,A Alsi qu’il li rendistLa terre qe tint Ekenbright,Q’a sa niece fut donée,Dont il l’out desheritée;Then sent the noble king,By the advice of his Danes,To Alsi (Godrich)—that he should restore to himThe land that Ekenbright (Athelwold) held,Which was given to his niece,And of which he had deprived her.Et, si rendre n’el voleit,Mande qu’il le purchaceroit.Av roi uindrent li messager—And, if he would not give it up,He sends word that he will take it.To the king came the messengers.]The remainder of the French poem altogether differs in its detail from the English.2927.Hire that was ful swete in bedde.]Among Kelly’s Scotch Proverbs, p. 290, we find: “Sweet in the bed, and sweir up in the morning, was never a good housewife;” and in a ballad of the last century quoted by Laing, the editor of that highly curious collection, theSelect pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry of Scotland, we meet with the same expression:A Clown is a Clown both at home and abroad,When a Rake he is comely, andsweet in his bed.[2990.The last word is writtenthitin the MS., but, as it rimes torith, we should supposetihtto be the word meant.Thitcannot be explained, buttiht(or perhapstith, according to our scribe’s spelling) is the pp. of a verb signifyingto purpose, which is the exact meaning required. Cf.“And y to turne to þee havetiȝt;”i.e. “I have resolved to turn to thee.”Political, Religious, and Love Poems; ed. Furnivall, 1866; p. 177.]

[The following notes are abridged from the notes in Sir F. Madden’s excellent edition, the abridgement being effected almost entirely by occasional omissions, and with but very slight unimportant changes of a few words, chiefly in the case of references to later editions of various works than were existing in 1828. I have added one or two short notes upon difficult constructions, but these are distinguished by being enclosed within square brackets. —W. W. S.]

He was the wicteste man at nedeThat thurte riden on ani stede.

He was the wicteste man at nede

That thurte riden on ani stede.

This appears to have been a favourite expression of the poet, and to have comprehended, in his idea, the perfection of those qualifications required in a knight and hero. He repeats it, with some slight variation, no less than five times, viz. in ll. 25, 87, 345, 1757, and 1970. The lines, however, are by no means original, but the common property of all our early poetical writers. We find them in Laȝamon:

þis wes þe feiruste monþe æuere æhte ær þusne kinedom,þa he mihte beren wepnen,& his hors wel awilden.

þis wes þe feiruste mon

þe æuere æhte ær þusne kinedom,

þa he mihte beren wepnen,

& his hors wel awilden.

Laȝamon, vol. i. p. 174.

So also in the Romance ofGuy of Warwick:

He was the best knight at needeThat euer bestrode any stede.

He was the best knight at neede

That euer bestrode any stede.

Coll. Garrick, K. 9. sign. Ll. ii.

Again, in theContinuation of Sir Gy, in the Auchinleck MS., (ed. for the Abbotsford Club, 1840, 4to; p. 266),

The best bodi he was at nedeThat ever might bistriden stede,And freest founde in fight.

The best bodi he was at nede

That ever might bistriden stede,

And freest founde in fight.

And again, in theChronicle of England, published by Ritson from a copy in the British Museum, MS. Reg. 12. C.XII.

After him his sone ArthurHevede this lond thourh and thourh.He was the beste kyng at nedeThat ever mihte ride on stede,Other wepne welde, other folk out-lede,Of mon he hede he never drede.

After him his sone Arthur

Hevede this lond thourh and thourh.

He was the beste kyng at nede

That ever mihte ride on stede,

Other wepne welde, other folk out-lede,

Of mon he hede he never drede.

—l. 261.

The very close resemblance of these lines to those in Havelok, ll. 87-90, would induce a belief that the writer of theChroniclehad certainly read, and perhaps copied from, the Romance. The MS. followed by Ritson was undoubtedly written soon after the death of Piers Gaveston, in 1313, with the mention of which event it concludes; but in the Auchinleck copy it is continued, by a later hand, to the minority of Edward III. It only remains to be observed, that the poem in MS. Reg. 12. C.XII.is written by the same identical hand as the MS. Harl. 2253 (containingKyng Horn, &c.), whence some additional light is thrown on the real age of the latter, respecting which our antiquaries so long differed.

[15.“And I will drink ere I tell my tale.”Her= ere.

19.And wite, &c., i.e. And ordain that it may be so; cf. ll. 517, 1316. Both metre and grammar require the finale.]

31.Erl and barun,drengand kayn.The appellation ofDreng, and, in the plural,Drenges, which repeatedly occurs in the course of this poem, is uniformly bestowed on a class of men who hold a situation between the rank ofBaronandThayn. We meet with the term more than once in Doomsday Book, as, for instance, in Tit. Cestresc: “Hujus manerii [Neuton] aliam terram xv. hom. quosDrenchesvocabant, pro xv. maneriis tenebant.” And in a Charter of that period we read: “Alger Prior, et totus Conventus Ecclesiæ S. Cuthberti, Edwino, et omnibus Teignis etDrengis, &c.” Hence Spelman infers, that the Drengs were military vassals, and held land by knight’s service, which was calledDrengagium. This is confirmed by a document from the Chartulary of Welbeck, printed in Dugdale,Mon. Angl.V.II.p. 598, and in Blount,Jocular Tenures, p. 177, where it is stated, “In eadem villa [Cukeney, co. Nottingh.] manebat quidam homo qui vocabatur Gamelbere, et fuit vetusDreyingheante Conquestum.” It appears from the same document, that this person held two carucates of land of the Kingin capite, and was bound to perform military service for the same, whenever the army went into Wales. In the Epistle also from the Monks of Canterbury to Henry II. printed by Somner, in his Treatise on Gavelkind, p. 123, we find: “Quia vero non erant adhuc tempore Regis Willelmi Milites in Anglia, sedThrenges, præcepit Rex, ut de eis Milites fierent, ad terram defendendam.” In Laȝamon’s translation of Wace the term is frequently used in the acceptation of thayn, and spelt eitherdringches,drenches,dranches, ordringes. [Cf. Sw.dräng, a man, servant; Dan.dreng, a boy.] In the Isl. and Su. Goth.Drengoriginally signifiedvir fortis,miles strenuus, and hence Olaf, King of Norway, received the epithet ofGoddreng. See Wormii Lex. Run. p. 26. Ihre, Vet. Cat. Reg.p. 109. Langebek, Script. Rer. Danic. V.I.p. 156. The term subsequently was applied to persons in a servile condition, and is so instanced by Spelman, as used in Denmark. In this latter sense it may be found in Hickes, Diction. Isl., and in Sir David Lyndsay’s Poems,

Quhilk is not ordanit fordringisBut for Duikis, Empriouris, and Kingis.

Quhilk is not ordanit fordringis

But for Duikis, Empriouris, and Kingis.

V. Pinkerton’sScotishPoems Reprinted, ii. 97.

V. Jamieson, Dict.in voce.

45.

In that time a man that bore(Wel fyfty pund, y woth, or more.)

In that time a man that bore

(Wel fyfty pund, y woth, or more.)

This insertion receives additional authority from a similar passage in the Romance ofGuy of Warwick, where it is mentioned as a proof of the rigorous system of justice pursued by Earl Sigard,

Though a man bore an hundred pound,Upon him of gold so round,There n’as man in all this landThat durst him do shame no schonde.

Though a man bore an hundred pound,

Upon him of gold so round,

There n’as man in all this land

That durst him do shame no schonde.

Ellis,Metr. Rom.V.II.p. 9. Ed. 1811.

Many of the traits here attributed to Athelwold appear to be borrowed from the praises so universally bestowed by our ancient historians on the character of King Alfred, in whose time, as Otterbourne writes, p. 52, “armillas aureas in bivio stratas vel suspensas, nemo abripere est ausus.” Cf.Annal. Eccl. Roffens.MS. Cott. Nero, D.II.The same anecdote is related of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, by Guillaume de Jumieges, and Dudon de Saint Quentin.

91.Sprong forth so sparke of glede.Cf. l. 870. It is a very common metaphor in early English poetry.

He sprong forð an stede,swa sparc ded of fure,

He sprong forð an stede,

swa sparc ded of fure,

Laȝamonv. ii. p. 565.

He sprange als any sparke one glede.

Sir Isumbras, st. 39 (Camd. Soc. 1844)

He spronge as sparkle doth of glede,

K. of Tars, l. 194.

And lepte out of the arsoun,As sperk thogh out of glede.

And lepte out of the arsoun,

As sperk thogh out of glede.

Ly Beaus Desconus, l. 623.

Cf. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, l. 13833, and Tyrwhitt’s note.

110.Of his bodi, &c. Compare the French text, l. 208.

Mes entre eus n’eurent enfantMes qe vne fille bele;Argentille out non la pucele.Rois Ekenbright fut enfermez,Et de grant mal forment greuez;Bien siet n’en poet garrir.

Mes entre eus n’eurent enfant

Mes qe vne fille bele;

Argentille out non la pucele.

Rois Ekenbright fut enfermez,

Et de grant mal forment greuez;

Bien siet n’en poet garrir.

[HereArgentilleisGoldborough, andEkenbrightanswers toAthelwold. This quotation, and others below, shewing the passages of the French text which most nearly resemble the English poem, are from a MS. in the Herald’s College, marked E. D. N. No. 14. See the Preface.]

[118.Wat shal me to rede, lit. what shall be for a counsel to me. SeeRedein the Glossary toWilliam of Palerne.

130.And don hem of þar hire were queme, lit. and do them off where it should be agreeable to her; i.e. and keep men at a distance as she pleased. Such seems to me the meaning of this hitherto unexplained line.

132.Formewe ought probably to readhit.]

136.He sendewritessone onon.We must here, and in l. 2275, simply understandletters, without any reference to the official summonses of parliament, which subsequently were so termed,κατ’ εξοχην. The wordbriefsis used in the same sense by the old French writers, and in Laȝamon we meet with some lines nearly corresponding with the present; see ll. 6669-6678.

[175.þa. Frequently written forþat. SeeWilliam of Palerne.]

189-203.Ther-on he garte, &c. Compare the French Romance, ll. 215-228.

Sa fille li ad comandée,Et sa terre tote liuerée.Primerement li fet iurer,Veiant sa gent & affier,Qe leaument la nurrireit,Et sa terre lui gardereit,Tant q’ele fust de tiel ageQe suffrir porroit mariage.Quant la pucele seit granz,Par le consail de ses tenanz,Au plus fort home la dorroitQe el reaume troueroit;Qu’il li baillast ses citez,Ses chasteus & ses fermetez.

Sa fille li ad comandée,

Et sa terre tote liuerée.

Primerement li fet iurer,

Veiant sa gent & affier,

Qe leaument la nurrireit,

Et sa terre lui gardereit,

Tant q’ele fust de tiel age

Qe suffrir porroit mariage.

Quant la pucele seit granz,

Par le consail de ses tenanz,

Au plus fort home la dorroit

Qe el reaume troueroit;

Qu’il li baillast ses citez,

Ses chasteus & ses fermetez.

263.

Justises dede he maken newe,Al Engelond to faren thorw.

Justises dede he maken newe,

Al Engelond to faren thorw.

The earliest instance produced by Dugdale of the Justices Itinerant, is in 23 Hen. II. 1176, when by the advice of the Council held at Northampton, the realm was divided into six parts, and into each were sent three Justices.Orig. Judic.p. 51. This is stated on the authority of Hoveden. Dugdale admits however the custom to have been older, and in Gervasius Dorobernensis, we find, in 1170, certain persons, calledinquisitores, appointed to perambulate England. Gervase of Tilbury, or whoever was the author of theDialogus de Scaccario, calls themdeambulantes, vel perlustrantes judices. See Spelman,in voc. The office continued to the time of Edward III., when it was superseded by that of the Justices of Assize.

280.The kinges douther, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 283.

Argentille,La meschine qu’ert sa fille,Que ia estoit creue & grant,Et bien poeit auoir enfant.

Argentille,

La meschine qu’ert sa fille,

Que ia estoit creue & grant,

Et bien poeit auoir enfant.

[338.Sawe, put for “Say we.” Cf.biddifor “bidde i,” l. 484;hauedetfor “hauede it,” 714; &c.

365.His quiste, &c. “His bequest made, and (things) distributed for him.”]

433.

Crist warie him with his mouth!Waried wrthe he of north and suth!

Crist warie him with his mouth!

Waried wrthe he of north and suth!

So, in the Romance of Merlin, Bishop Brice curses the enemies of Arthur,

Ac, for he is king, and king’s son,Y curse alle, and y domHis enemies with Christes mouth,By East, by West, by North, and South!

Ac, for he is king, and king’s son,

Y curse alle, and y dom

His enemies with Christes mouth,

By East, by West, by North, and South!

Ellis,Metr. Rom.V.I.p. 260.

[506.Fornouthwe must readmouthorwolde. The sense is— “He thought that he would he were dead, except that he might not (orwould not) slay him with his (own) hand.”

550.The sense is— “When he had done that deed (i.e. gagged the child),thenthe deceiver had commanded him,” &c.

560.withmay meanknowest, but this hardly gives sense. Perhaps we should readwilt, i.e. “As thou wilt have (preserve) my life.”

567.Mr Morris suggests that the riming words areadounandcroune. We might then read—

“And caste þe knaue so harde adoun,þat he crakede þer hise croune.”]

“And caste þe knaue so harde adoun,

þat he crakede þer hise croune.”]

591.Of hise mouth, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 71. sq.

Totes les houres q’il dormoit,Vne flambe de lui issoit.Par la bouche li venoit fors,Si grant chalur auoit el cors.La flambe rendoit tiel odour,Onc ne sentit nul home meillour.

Totes les houres q’il dormoit,

Vne flambe de lui issoit.

Par la bouche li venoit fors,

Si grant chalur auoit el cors.

La flambe rendoit tiel odour,

Onc ne sentit nul home meillour.

676.And with thi chartre make (me) fre.Instances of the manumission of villains or slaves by charter may be found in Hickes,Diss. Epistol.p. 12, Lye’s Dict.ad calc., and Madox’sFormulare Anglicanum, p. 750. The practice was common in the Saxon times, and existed so late as the reign of Henry VIII.

[694.Wite he him onliue, if he knows him (to be) alive.

701.It is evident that the wordsand gate= and goats, must be supplied. For the spellinggate, cf.Pricke of Conscience, ed. Morris, l. 6134, wheregayteis used collectively as a plural.]

706.Hise ship, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 89.

Grim fet niefs apparailler,Et de viande bien charger.

Grim fet niefs apparailler,

Et de viande bien charger.

715-720.Hauelok the yunge, &c. Comp. the Fr. ll. 97-105.

Quant sa nief fut apparaillée,Dedenz fist entrer sa meisnée,Ses cheualers & ses serganz,Sa femme demeine & ses enfanz:La reyne mist el batel,Haueloc tint souz son mantel.Il meismes apres entra,A Dieu del ciel se comanda,Del hauene sont desancré,Car il eurent bon orré.

Quant sa nief fut apparaillée,

Dedenz fist entrer sa meisnée,

Ses cheualers & ses serganz,

Sa femme demeine & ses enfanz:

La reyne mist el batel,

Haueloc tint souz son mantel.

Il meismes apres entra,

A Dieu del ciel se comanda,

Del hauene sont desancré,

Car il eurent bon orré.

Instead of the storm, in the French text Grim’s ship is attacked by pirates, who kill the whole of the crew, with the exception of himself and family, whom they spare on the score of his being an old acquaintance.

733-749.In Humber, &c. So in the Fr.Ceo fut el north, &c. Cf. ll. 122-135.

Tant out nagé & tant siglé,Q’en vne hauene out parvenu,Et de la nief a terre issu.Ceo fut el North, a Grimesbi;A icel tens qe ieo vus di,Ni out onques home habité,Ne cele hauene n’ert pas haunté.Il i adresca primes maison,De lui ad Grimesbi a non.Quant Grim primes i ariua,En .ii. moitez sa nief trencha,Les chiefs en ad amont drescé,Iloec dedenz s’est herbergé.Pescher aloit sicome il soloit,Siel vendoit & achatoit.

Tant out nagé & tant siglé,

Q’en vne hauene out parvenu,

Et de la nief a terre issu.

Ceo fut el North, a Grimesbi;

A icel tens qe ieo vus di,

Ni out onques home habité,

Ne cele hauene n’ert pas haunté.

Il i adresca primes maison,

De lui ad Grimesbi a non.

Quant Grim primes i ariua,

En .ii. moitez sa nief trencha,

Les chiefs en ad amont drescé,

Iloec dedenz s’est herbergé.

Pescher aloit sicome il soloit,

Siel vendoit & achatoit.

753.

He took the sturgiun and the qual,And the turbut, and lax withal,He tok the sele, and the hwel, &c.

He took the sturgiun and the qual,

And the turbut, and lax withal,

He tok the sele, and the hwel, &c.

The list of fish here enumerated may be increased from l. 896, and presents us with a sufficiently accurate notion of the different species eaten in the 13th century. Each of the names will be considered separately in the Glossary, and it is only intended here to make a few remarks on those, which in the present day appear rather strangely to have found a place on the tables of our ancestors. The sturgeon is well known to have been esteemed a dainty, both in England and France, and specially appropriated to the King’s service, but that the whale, the seal, and the porpoiseshould have been rendered palatable, excites our astonishment. Yet that the whale was caught for that purpose, appears not only from the present passage, but also from the Fabliau intitledBataille de Charnage et de Caresme, written probably about the same period, and printed by Barbazan. It is confirmed, as we learn from Le Grand, by the French writers; and even Rabelais, near three centuries later, enumerates the whale among the dishes eaten by the Gastrolatres. In the list of fish also published by Le Grand from a MS. of the 13th century, and which corresponds remarkably with the names in the Romance, we meet with theBaleigne. SeeVie Privée des François, T.II.sect. 8.

Among the articles at Archbishop Nevil’s Feast, 6 Edw. IV., we find,Porposes and SealesXII.and at that of Archbishop Warham, held in 1504, is an item:De Seales & Porposs. prec. in grossXXVI.s.VIII.d.Champier asserts that the Seal was eaten at the Court of Francis I., so that the taste of the two nations seems at this period to have been nearly the same. For the courses of fish in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, see Pegge’sForm of Cury, and Warner’sAntiquitates Culinariæ, to which we may add MS. Sloane, 1986. [Cf.Babees Book, &c., ed. Furnivall, 1868, p. 153.]

[784.Forseteswe should probably readsetenorsette, which would be as good a rime as many others. The scribe has probably made the rime more perfect than the sense. It must mean, “In the sea were they oft set.” We cannot here supposesetes=set es= set them.]

839.And seyde, Hauelok, dere sone.In the French, Grim sends Havelok away for quite a different reason, viz. because he does not understand fishing.

903.The kok stod, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 242.

Et vn keu le roi le retint,Purceo qe fort le vist & grant,Et mult le vist de bon semblant.Merueillous fes poeit leuer,Busche tailler, ewe porter.

Et vn keu le roi le retint,

Purceo qe fort le vist & grant,

Et mult le vist de bon semblant.

Merueillous fes poeit leuer,

Busche tailler, ewe porter.

The last line answers to l. 942 of the English version.

939.He bar the turues, he bar the star.The meaning of the latter term will be best illustrated by a passage in Moor’sSuffolk Words, where, under the wordBent, he writes, “BentorStarr, on the N.W. coast of England, and especially in Lancashire, is a coarse reedy shrub—likeoursperhaps—of some importance formerly, if not now, on the sandy blowing lands of those counties. Its fibrous roots give some cohesion to the silicious soil. By the 15 and 16 G. II. c. 33, plucking up and carrying awayStarror Bent, or having it in possession within five miles of the sand hills, was punishable by fine, imprisonment, and whipping.” The use stated in the Act to which theStarrwas applied, is, “making of Mats, Brushes, and Brooms or Besoms,” therefore it might very well be adapted to the purposes of a kitchen, and from its being coupled with turves in the poem, was perhaps sometimes burnt for fuel. The origin of the word is Danish, and still exists in the Dan.Stær, Swed.Starr, Isl.staer, a species of sedge, or broom, called by Lightfoot, p. 560,carex cespitosa. Perhaps it is this shrub alluded to in the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder, and this circumstance will induce us to assign its author to the district in which the Starr is found.

The speris craketh swithe thikke,So doth on heggesterre-stike.

The speris craketh swithe thikke,

So doth on heggesterre-stike.

—l. 4438.

945.of alle men, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 254.

Tant estoit franc & deboneire,Que tuz voloit lur pleisir fere,Pur la franchise q’il out.

Tant estoit franc & deboneire,

Que tuz voloit lur pleisir fere,

Pur la franchise q’il out.

959.Of him ful wide the word sprong.A phrase which from the Saxon times occurs repeatedly in all our old writers. A few examples may suffice.

Beowulf wæs breme,Blæd wíde sprang.

Beowulf wæs breme,

Blæd wíde sprang.

Beowulf, ed. Thorpe, p. 2.

Welle wide sprong þas eorles word.

Laȝamon, l. 26242.

Of a knight is that y mene,His name is sprong wel wide.

Of a knight is that y mene,

His name is sprong wel wide.

Sir Tristrem, st. 2, p. 12.

The word of Horn wide sprong,How he was bothe michel and long.

The word of Horn wide sprong,

How he was bothe michel and long.

Horn Childe, ap. Rits.Metr. Rom.V. iii. p. 291.

See also theKyng of Tars, ll. 19, 1007,Emare, l. 256,Roland and Ferragus, as quoted by Ellis,Ly beaus Desconus, l. 172, andChronicle of England, l. 71.

984.

In armes him noman (ne) nam,þat he doune sone ne caste.

In armes him noman (ne) nam,

þat he doune sone ne caste.

The same praise is bestowed on Havelok in the French text, l. 265,—

Deuant eus liuter le fesoientAs plus forz homes q’il sauoient,Et il trestouz les abatit—

Deuant eus liuter le fesoient

As plus forz homes q’il sauoient,

Et il trestouz les abatit—

and it was doubtless in imitation or ridicule of the qualities attributed to similar heroes, that Chaucer writes of Sir Thopas, “Of wrastling was ther non his per.” Cant. Tales, l. 13670.

1006.To ben þer at þe parlement.Cf. l. 1178. If we examine our historical records, we shall find that the only parliament held at Lincoln was in the year 1300, 28 Edw. I., and the writs to theArchbishop of York, and other Nobles, both ecclesiastical and secular, are still extant. The proceedings are detailed at some length by Robert of Brunne, Vol.II.p. 312, who might have been in Lincoln at the time, or, at all events, was sufficiently informed of all that took place, from his residence in thecounty. If we could suppose that the author of the Romance alluded to this very parliament, it would reduce the period of the poem’s composition to a later date, than either the style or the writing of the MS. will possibly admit of. It is therefore far more probable the writer here makes use of a poetical, and very pardonable licence, in transferring the parliament to the chief city of the county in which he was evidently born, or brought up, without any reference whatever to historical data.

1022.

Biforn here fet þanne lay a tre,And putten with a mikel ston, &c.

Biforn here fet þanne lay a tre,

And putten with a mikel ston, &c.

This game ofputting the stone, is of the highest antiquity, and seems to have been common at one period to the whole of England, although subsequently confined to the Northern counties, and to Scotland. Fitzstephen enumerates casting of stones among the amusements of the Londoners in the 12th century, and Dr Pegge, in a note on the passage, calls it “a Welch custom.” The same sport is mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth, among the diversions pursued at King Arthur’s feast, as will appear in a subsequent note (l. 2320). By an edict of Edward III. the practice of casting stones, wood, and iron, was forbidden, and the use of the bow substituted, yet this by no means superseded the former amusement, which was still in common use in the 16th century, as appears from Strutt’sPopular Pastimes, Introd. pp. xvii, xxxix, and p. 56, sq. In the Highlands this sport appears to have been longer kept up than in any other part of Britain, and Pennant, describing their games, writes, “Those retained are, throwing theputting-stone, or stone of strength (Cloch neart) as they call it, which occasions an emulation who can throw a weighty one the farthest.”Tour in Scotl.p. 214. 4to. 1769. See alsoStatist. Account of Argyleshire, xi. 287. In the French Romance of Horn, preserved in MS. Harl. 527, is almost a similar incident to the one in Havelok, and would nearly amount to a proof, that Tomas, the writer of the French text of Horn, was an Englishman.

In the Romance ofOctovian Imperatorit is said of Florent,

Atwrestelyng, and atston castyngeHe wan the prys, without lesynge;Ther n’as nother old ne yyngeSo mochell of strength,That myght the ston to hysbutbryng,Bi fedeme lengthe.

Atwrestelyng, and atston castynge

He wan the prys, without lesynge;

Ther n’as nother old ne yynge

So mochell of strength,

That myght the ston to hysbutbryng,

Bi fedeme lengthe.

—l. 895.

It is singular enough, that the circumstance of Havelok’s throwing the stone, mentioned in the Romance, should have been founded on, or preserved in, a local tradition, as attested by Robert of Brunne, p. 26.

Men sais in Lyncoln castelle ligges ȝit a stone,That Hauelok kast wele forbi euerilkone.

Men sais in Lyncoln castelle ligges ȝit a stone,

That Hauelok kast wele forbi euerilkone.

1077-1088.The king Athelwald, &c. Comp. the Fr. text, ll. 354-370.

Quant Ekenbright le roi fini,En ma garde sa fille mist;Vn serement iurer me fist,Q’au plus fort home le dorroie,Qe el reaume trouer porroie.Assez ai quis & demandé,Tant q’en ai vn fort troué;Vn valet ai en ma quisine,A qui ieo dorrai la meschine; &c.

Quant Ekenbright le roi fini,

En ma garde sa fille mist;

Vn serement iurer me fist,

Q’au plus fort home le dorroie,

Qe el reaume trouer porroie.

Assez ai quis & demandé,

Tant q’en ai vn fort troué;

Vn valet ai en ma quisine,

A qui ieo dorrai la meschine; &c.

1103.After Goldeborw, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 377.

Sa niece lur fet amener,Et a Cuaran esposer;Pur lui auiler & honir,La fist la nuit lez lui gesir.

Sa niece lur fet amener,

Et a Cuaran esposer;

Pur lui auiler & honir,

La fist la nuit lez lui gesir.

The French Romance differs here very considerably from the English, and in the latter, the dream of Argentille, her visit to the hermit, and the conversation relative to Havelok’s parents, is entirely omitted.

[1174.This may mean—“He (Havelok) is given to her, and she has taken (him)”—but this makesyafandtokpast participles, which they properly are not; or else we must translate it—“He (Godard) gave them to her, and she took them,” i.e. the pence. This alone is the grammatical construction, and it suits the context best; observe, that the wordsysandasare equivalent toes= them. Cf. l. 970. See Morris;Gen. & Exod., Pref. p. xviii.]

1203.Thanne he komen there, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 556.

A Grimesby s’en alerent;Mes li prodoms estoit finiz,Et la Dame q’is out nurriz.Kelloc sa fille i ont trouée,Vn marchant l’out esposée.

A Grimesby s’en alerent;

Mes li prodoms estoit finiz,

Et la Dame q’is out nurriz.

Kelloc sa fille i ont trouée,

Vn marchant l’out esposée.

The marriage of Kelloc, Grim’s daughter, with a merchant is skilfully introduced in the French, and naturally leads to the mention of Denmark. The plot of the English story is wholly dissimilar in this respect.

1247.On the nith, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 381.

Quant couché furent ambedui,Cele out grant honte de lui,Et il assez greindre de li.As deuz se geut, si se dormi.Ne voloit pas q’ele veistLa flambe qe de lui issist.

Quant couché furent ambedui,

Cele out grant honte de lui,

Et il assez greindre de li.

As deuz se geut, si se dormi.

Ne voloit pas q’ele veist

La flambe qe de lui issist.

The voice of the angel is completely an invention of the English author, and the dream (which is transferred from Argentille to Havelok) is altogether different in its detail.

1260.He beth heyman, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 521.

Il est né de real lignage,Oncore auera grant heritage.Grant gent fra vers li encline,Il serra roi & tu reyne.

Il est né de real lignage,

Oncore auera grant heritage.

Grant gent fra vers li encline,

Il serra roi & tu reyne.

[1334.The wordseuere-il delare corruptly repeated from line 1330 above. Perhaps we should readwit-uten were, i.e. without doubt.]

1430.Hauede go for him gold ne fe.Cf. l. 44. So in Laȝamon:

Ne sculde him neoðer gon foreGold ne na gærsume, &c.;

Ne sculde him neoðer gon fore

Gold ne na gærsume, &c.;

—vol. ii. p. 537.

[1444.The French text helps but little to supply the blank. It shows that Havelok and his wife sailed to Denmark, and, on their arrival, sought out the castle belonging to Sigar, who answers to the Ubbe of the English version.]

1632.A gold ring drow he forth anon, &c. A similar incident, and in nearly the same words, occurs in Sir Tristrem.

A ring he raught him tite,The porter seyd nought nay,In hand:He was ful wis, y say,That first yave yift in land.

A ring he raught him tite,

The porter seyd nought nay,

In hand:

He was ful wis, y say,

That first yave yift in land.

—fytte i. st. 57, p. 39.

So also Wyntoun, who relates the subsidy of 40,000 moutons sent from France to Scotland in 1353, and adds,

Qwha gyvis swilk gyftyis he is wyse.

[See alsoPiers Plowman, Text A. iii. 202.]

1646.Hw he was wel of bones, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 743.

Gent cors & bele feture,Lungs braz & grant furcheureEntentiuement l’esgarda.

Gent cors & bele feture,

Lungs braz & grant furcheure

Ententiuement l’esgarda.

[1678.This line has two syllables too little.]

1722.Thanne he were set, &c. This is an amplification of the Fr. l. 677, sq.

Quant fut houre del manger,Et qe tuz alerent lauer,Li prodoms a manger s’assist,Les .iii. valez seeir i fist,Argentille lez son seignur;Serui furent a grant honur.

Quant fut houre del manger,

Et qe tuz alerent lauer,

Li prodoms a manger s’assist,

Les .iii. valez seeir i fist,

Argentille lez son seignur;

Serui furent a grant honur.

1726.Kranes, swannes, veneysun, &c. We have here the principal constituents of what formed the banquets of our ancestors. The old Romances abound with descriptions of this nature, which coincide exactly with the present. SeeRichard Cœur de Lion, l. 4221;Guy of Warwick; The Squyr of Lowe Degre, l. 317; andMorte Arthure, ed. Perry, p. 7.

“Wine is common,” says Dr Pegge, speaking of the entertainments of the 14th century, “both red and white. This article they partly had of their own growth, and partly by importation from France and Greece.” A few examples will illustrate this:

He laid the cloth, and set forth bread,And also wine, bothwhite and red.

He laid the cloth, and set forth bread,

And also wine, bothwhite and red.

Sir Degore, ap. Ellis,Metr. Rom.V. 3, p. 375.

And dronke wyn, and eke pyment,Whyt and red, al to talent.

And dronke wyn, and eke pyment,

Whyt and red, al to talent.

Kyng Alisaunder, l. 4178.

[Cf.Piers Plowman, Text B, at the end of thePrologue.]

In theSquyr of Lowe Degreis a long list of these wines, which has received considerable illustration in the curious work of Dr Henderson.

[1736.I printkiwing, as in Sir F. Madden’s edition; but I quite give up the meaning of it, and doubt if it is put forkirving. The word is obscurely written, and looks likekilþing, and my impression is that it is miswritten forilk þing, the wordþebeing put forþer, as frequently elsewhere. We should thus gethwan he haueden þer ilk þing deled, when they had there distributed every thing. This is, at any rate, the sense of the passage.]

1749.And sende him unto the greyues.In the French, Havelok is simply sent to anostel, and thegreyvedoes not appear in the story.

1806.Hauelok lifte up, &c. In the French, all the amusing details relative to Robert and Huwe Raven are omitted, and Havelok is made to retire to a monastery, where he defends himself by throwing down the stones on his assailants.

[1826.wolde, offered at, intended to hit,wouldhave hit.]

1838.

And shoten on him, so don on bereDogges, that wolden him to-tere.

And shoten on him, so don on bere

Dogges, that wolden him to-tere.

The same comparison is made use of in the Romance of Horn Childe:

The Yrise folk about him yode,As hondes do to bare.

The Yrise folk about him yode,

As hondes do to bare.

Rits.Metr. Rom.V.III.p. 289.

SeeNote on l. 2320.

[1914.“Cursed be he who cares! for they deserved it! What did they? There were they worried.” A mark of interrogation seems required afterdide he.]

1926-1930.Sket cam tiding, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 719.

La nouele vint a chastel,Au seneschal, qui n’est pas bel,Qe cil qu’il auoit herbergéCinc de ses homes out tué.

La nouele vint a chastel,

Au seneschal, qui n’est pas bel,

Qe cil qu’il auoit herbergé

Cinc de ses homes out tué.

[1932.Apparently corrupt. Perhapsisshould beit. “That this strife—as to what it meant.”]

2045.That weren of Kaym kin and Eues.The odium affixed tothe supposed progeny of Cain, and the fables engrafted on it, owe their origin to the theological opinions of the Middle Ages, which it is not worth while to trace to their authors. SeeBeowulf, ed. Thorpe, p. 8; andPiers Plowman, A.X.135-156; answering to p. 177 of Whitaker’s edition. See also the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder:

And of Sab the duk Mauryn,He was ofKaymes kunrede.

And of Sab the duk Mauryn,

He was ofKaymes kunrede.

—l. 1932.

InYwaine and Gawaine, l. 559, the Giant is called “the karl ofKaymes kyn,” and so also in a poem printed by Percy, intitledLittle John Nobody, written about the year 1550.

Such caitives count to be come of Cain’s kind.

Anc. Reliq.V.II.p. 130. Ed. 1765.

2076.

It ne shal no thing ben bitweneThi bour and min, also y wene,But a fayr firrene wowe.

It ne shal no thing ben bitwene

Thi bour and min, also y wene,

But a fayr firrene wowe.

These lines will receive some illustration from a passage in Sir Tristrem, where it is said,

A borde he tok owayOf her bour.

A borde he tok oway

Of her bour.

—p. 114.

On which Sir W. Scott remarks, “The bed-chamber of the queen was constructed of wooden boards or shingles, of which one could easily be removed.” This will explain the line which occurs below, 2106, “He stod, and totede in at a bord.”

2092.Aboute the middel, &c. In the French, a person is placed by the Seneschal to watch, who first discovers the light.

2132.Bi the pappes he leyen naked.“From the latter end of the 13th to near the 16th century, all ranks, and both sexes, were universally in the habit of sleeping quite naked. This custom is often alluded to by Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, and all our ancient writers.” Ellis,Spec. Metr. Rom.V.I.p. 324, 4th Ed. In theSquyr of Lowe Degreis a remarkable instance of this fact:

How she rose, that lady dere,To take her leue of that squyer;Al so naked as she was borneShe stod her chambre-dore beforne.

How she rose, that lady dere,

To take her leue of that squyer;

Al so naked as she was borne

She stod her chambre-dore beforne.

—l. 671.

The custom subsisted both in England and France to a very recent period, and hence probably was derived the phrasenaked-bed, illustrated so copiously by Archdeacon Nares in his Glossary.

2192.Cf. the French, l. 843.

Ses chapeleins fet demander,Ses briefs escriure & enseeler;Par ses messages les manda,Et pur ses amis enuoia;Pur ses homes, pur ses parenz;Mult i assembla granz genz.

Ses chapeleins fet demander,

Ses briefs escriure & enseeler;

Par ses messages les manda,

Et pur ses amis enuoia;

Pur ses homes, pur ses parenz;

Mult i assembla granz genz.

[2201.Readne neme= took not, sc. their way, just as in l. 1207.]

2240-2265.Lokes, hware he stondes her, &c. Comp. the Fr. ll. 913-921.

“Veez ci nostre dreit heir,Bien en deuom grant ioie aueir.”Tut primerain se desafubla,Par deuant lui s’agenuilla;Sis homs deuint, si li iuraQe leaument le seruira.Li autre sont apres alé,Chescuns de bone volenté;Tuit si home sont deuenu.

“Veez ci nostre dreit heir,

Bien en deuom grant ioie aueir.”

Tut primerain se desafubla,

Par deuant lui s’agenuilla;

Sis homs deuint, si li iura

Qe leaument le seruira.

Li autre sont apres alé,

Chescuns de bone volenté;

Tuit si home sont deuenu.

2314.

Vbbe dubbede him to knith,With a swerd ful swithe brith.

Vbbe dubbede him to knith,

With a swerd ful swithe brith.

So likewise in the Fr. l. 928,A cheualier l’out adubbé. The ceremony of knighthood is described with greater minuteness in the Romance ofLy beaus Desconus, l. 73; and seeKyng Horn, ed. Lumby, ll. 495-504.

2320.Hwan he was king, ther mouthe men se, &c. Ritson has justly remarked, Notes toYwaine and Gawaine, l. 15, that the elaborate description of Arthur’s feast at Carlisle, given by Geoffrey of Monmouth, l. ix. c. 12, has served as a model to all his successors. The original passage stands thus in a fine MS. of the 13th century, MS. Harl. 3773. fol. 33b. “Refecti autem epulis diversos ludos acturi campos extra civitatem adeunt. Tunc milites simulachra belli scientesequestrem ludumcomponunt, mulieribus ab edito murorum aspicientibus. Aliicum cestibus, aliicum hastis, aliigravium lapidum jactu, aliicum facis, [saxis, Edd.] aliicum aleis, diversisque alii alteriusmodi jocis contendentes.” In the translation of this description by Wace we approach still nearer to the imitation of the Romance before us.

A plusurs iuis se departirent,Li vns alerentbuhurder,E lur ignels cheuals mustrer,Li altre alerenteskermir,Vpere geter, vsaillir;Tels i-aueit kidarz lanconent,E tels i-aueit kilutouent:Chescon del gru [geu?] s’entremetaitDunt entremettre se saueit.

A plusurs iuis se departirent,

Li vns alerentbuhurder,

E lur ignels cheuals mustrer,

Li altre alerenteskermir,

Vpere geter, vsaillir;

Tels i-aueit kidarz lanconent,

E tels i-aueit kilutouent:

Chescon del gru [geu?] s’entremetait

Dunt entremettre se saueit.

MS. Reg. 13. A. xxi.

The parallel versions, from the French, of Laȝamon, Robert of Gloucester, and Robert of Brunne, may be read in Mr Ellis’sSpecimens of Early English Poets. At the feast of Olimpias, described in the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder, we obtain an additional imitation.

Withoute theo toun was mury,Was reised ther al maner pley;There was knyghtisturnyng,There was maidenes carolyng,There was championsskyrmyng,Of heom and of otherwrastlyng,Of liouns chas, ofbeore baityng,Andbay of bor, ofbole slatyng.

Withoute theo toun was mury,

Was reised ther al maner pley;

There was knyghtisturnyng,

There was maidenes carolyng,

There was championsskyrmyng,

Of heom and of otherwrastlyng,

Of liouns chas, ofbeore baityng,

Andbay of bor, ofbole slatyng.

—l. 193. Cf. l. 1045.

Some additional illustrations on each of the amusements named in our text may not be unacceptable:

1.Buttinge with sharpe speres.This is tilting, or justing, expressed in Wace bybuhurder. See Strutt’sSports and Pastimes, p. 96, sq. 108.

2.Skirming with taleuaces.This is described more at large by Wace, in his account of the feast of Cassibelaunus. Cf.Laȝamon, v. i. p. 347; l. 8144. In Strutt’sSports and Pastimesis a representation of this game, taken from MS. Bodl. 264, illuminated between 1338 and 1344, in which the form of thetalevasis accurately defined. It appears to have been pursued to such an excess, as to require the interference of the crown, for in 1286 an edict was issued by Edward I. prohibiting all personsEskirmer au bokeler. This, however, had only a temporary effect in restraining it, and in later times, under the appellation ofsword and buckler play, it again became universally popular.

3.Wrastling with laddes, puttinge of ston.See the notes on ll. 984 and 1022.

4.Harping and piping.This requires no illustration.

5.Leyk of mine, of hasard ok.Among the games mentioned at the marriage of Gawain, in the Fabliau ofLe Chevalier à l’Epée, we have:

Cil Chevalier jeuent as tables,Et as eschés de l’autre part,O à lamine, o àhazart.

Cil Chevalier jeuent as tables,

Et as eschés de l’autre part,

O à lamine, o àhazart.

Le Grand, in his note on this passage, T. i. p. 57, Ed. 1779, writes: “Le Hasard était une sorte de jeu de dez. Je ne connais point laMine; j’ai trouvé seulement ailleurs un passage qui prouve que ce jeu était tres-dangereux, et qu’on pouvait s’y ruiner en peu de tems.” It appears however from the Fabliau ofDu Prestre et des deuz Ribaus, to have been certainly a species ofTables, orBackgammon, and to have been played with dice, on a board calledMinete. The only passage we recollect in which any further detail of this game is given, is that of Wace, in the account of Arthur’s feast, Harl. MS. 6508, and MS. Cott. Vit. A. x., but it must be remarked, that the older copy 13 A. xxi. does not contain it, nor is it found in the translations of Laȝamon, or Robert of Gloucester.

6.Romanz reding.See Sir W. Scott’s note on Sir Tristrem, p. 290, [p. 306, ed. 1811]; and the Dissertations of Percy, Ritson, and Ellis.

Ther mouthe men se the boles beyte,And the bores, with hundes teyte.

Ther mouthe men se the boles beyte,

And the bores, with hundes teyte.

Cf. ll. 1838, 2438. Both these diversions are mentioned by Lucianus, in his inedited tractDe laude Cestriæ, MS. Bodl. 672, who is supposed byTanner to have written aboutA.D.1100, but who must probably be placed near half a century later. They formed also part of the amusements of the Londoners in the 12th century, as we learn from Fitzstephen, p. 77, and are noticed in the passage above quoted from the Romance ofKyng Alisaunder. In later times, particularly during the 16th century, these cruel practices were in the highest estimation, as we learn from Holinshed, Stowe, Laneham, &c. See Strutt’sSports and Pastimes, p. 192, and the plate from MS. Reg. 2. B. vii. Also Pegge’s Dissertation on Bull-baiting, inserted in Vol. ii. of Archæologia.

8.Ther mouthe men se hw Grim greu.If this is to be understood of scenic representation (and we can scarcely view it in any other light), it will present one of the earliest instances on record of any attempt to represent an historical event, or to depart from the religious performances, which until a much later period were the chief, and almost only, efforts towards the formation of the drama. Of course, the words of the writer must be understood to refer to the period in which he lived, i.e. according to our supposition, about the end of Hen. III’s reign, or beginning of Edw. I. See Le Grand’s notes to theLai de Courtois, V. i. p. 329, and Strutt’sSports and Pastimes, B. 3, ch. 2.

2344.The feste fourti dawes sat.Cf. l. 2950. This is borrowed also from Geoffrey, and is the usual term of duration fixed in the Romances.

Fourty dayes hy helden feste,Ryche, ryall, and oneste.

Fourty dayes hy helden feste,

Ryche, ryall, and oneste.

Octouian Imperator, l. 73.

Fourty dayes leste the feste.

Launfal, l. 631.

And certaynly, as the story sayes,The revell lasted forty dayes.

And certaynly, as the story sayes,

The revell lasted forty dayes.

Squyr of Lowe Degre, l. 1113.

2384.The French story here differs wholly from the English. Instead of the encounter of Robert and Godard, and the cruel punishment inflicted on the latter, in the French is a regular battle between the forces of Havelok and Hodulf (Godard). A single combat takes place between the two leaders, in which Hodulf is slain.

2450.Cf. ll. 2505 and 2822. This appears to have been a common, but barbarous, method in former times of leading traitors or malefactors to execution. Thus in the Romance of Kyng Alisaunder, the treatment of the murderers of Darius is described:

He dude quyk harnesche hors,And sette theron heore cors,Hyndeforth they seten, saun faile;In heore hand they hulden theo tailes.

He dude quyk harnesche hors,

And sette theron heore cors,

Hyndeforth they seten, saun faile;

In heore hand they hulden theo tailes.

—l. 4708.

2461.We find a similar proverb in theHistorie de Melusine, tirée des Chroniques de Poitou, &c. 12mo. Par. 1698, in which (at p. 72) Thierry, Duke of Bretagne, says to Raimondin;— “Vous autorisez par votre silencenotre Proverbe, qui dit,Qu’un vieux peché fait nouvelle vergogne.”

2513.Sket was seysed, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 971.

Apres cest fet, ad receuLe regne q’a son piere fu.

Apres cest fet, ad receu

Le regne q’a son piere fu.

2516.

And the king ful sone it yafVbbe in the hond, wit a fayr staf.

And the king ful sone it yaf

Vbbe in the hond, wit a fayr staf.

So inSir Tristrem:

Rohant he yafthe wand,And bad him sitte him bi,That fre;‘Rohant lord mak yTo held this lond of me.’

Rohant he yafthe wand,

And bad him sitte him bi,

That fre;

‘Rohant lord mak y

To held this lond of me.’

—fytte i. st. 83; p. 52.

The editor is clearly mistaken in explaining thewandto be atruncheon, orsymbol of power. For the custom of giving seisin or investitureper fustim, andper baculum, see Madox’sFormul. Anglican.pref. p. ix. and Spelman, Gloss. in v.Investire, andTraditio. The same usage existed in France,par rain et par baton.

2521.

——of monekes blakeA priorie to seruen inne ay.

——of monekes blake

A priorie to seruen inne ay.

The allusion here may be made either to the Abbey of Wellow, in Grimsby, which was a monastery ofBlack Canons, said to have been built aboutA.D.1110, or (what is more probable) to the Augustine Friary of Black Monks, which is stated in theMonumental Antiquities of Grimsby, by the Rev. G. Oliver, to have been “foundedaboutthe year 1280,” p. 110. No notice of it occurs in Tanner till the year 1304. Pat. 33 Edw. I. Some old walls of this edifice, which was dissolved in 1543, still remain, and the site is still called “The Friars.” If the connection between this foundation and the one recorded in the poem be considered valid, the date of the composition must be referred torathera later period than we wish to admit.

2530.The French supplies what is here omitted, viz. that Havelok sails to England by the persuasion of his wife.

[Indeed, ll. 979-1006 of the French text may serve to fill up the evident gap in the story; a translation of the passage is added, to shew this more clearly.

Quant Haueloc est rois pussanz,

Le regne tint plus de .iiii. anz;

Merueillos tresor i auna.

Argentille li commanda

Qu’il passast en Engleterre

Pur son heritage conquerre,

Dont son oncle l’out engettée,

[Et] A grant tort desheritée.

When Havelok is a mighty king,

He reigned more than 4 years,

Marvellous treasure he amassed.

Argentille (Goldborough) bade him

Pass into England

To conquer her heritage,

Whence her uncle had cast her out,

And very wrongly disinherited her.

Li rois li dist qu’il fera

Ceo qu’ele li comandera.

Sa nauie fet a-turner,

Ses genz & ses ostz mander.

En mier se met quant orré a,

Et la reyne od lui mena.

Quatre vinz & quatre cenz

Out Haueloc, pleines de genz.

Tant out nagé & siglé,

Q’en Carleflure est ariué.

Sur le hauene se herbergerent,

Par le pais viande quierent.

The king told her that he would do

That which she should command him.

He got ready his fleet,

And sent for his men and his hosts.

He puts to sea when he has prayed,

And took the queen with him.

Four score and four hundred (ships)

Had Havelok, full of men.

So far has he steered and sailed

That he has arrived at Carleflure.

Hard by the haven they abode,

And sought food in the country round.

Puis enuoia li noble rois,

Par le consail de ses Danois,

A Alsi qu’il li rendist

La terre qe tint Ekenbright,

Q’a sa niece fut donée,

Dont il l’out desheritée;

Then sent the noble king,

By the advice of his Danes,

To Alsi (Godrich)—that he should restore to him

The land that Ekenbright (Athelwold) held,

Which was given to his niece,

And of which he had deprived her.

Et, si rendre n’el voleit,

Mande qu’il le purchaceroit.

Av roi uindrent li messager—

And, if he would not give it up,

He sends word that he will take it.

To the king came the messengers.]

The remainder of the French poem altogether differs in its detail from the English.

2927.Hire that was ful swete in bedde.]Among Kelly’s Scotch Proverbs, p. 290, we find: “Sweet in the bed, and sweir up in the morning, was never a good housewife;” and in a ballad of the last century quoted by Laing, the editor of that highly curious collection, theSelect pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry of Scotland, we meet with the same expression:

A Clown is a Clown both at home and abroad,When a Rake he is comely, andsweet in his bed.

A Clown is a Clown both at home and abroad,

When a Rake he is comely, andsweet in his bed.

[2990.The last word is writtenthitin the MS., but, as it rimes torith, we should supposetihtto be the word meant.Thitcannot be explained, buttiht(or perhapstith, according to our scribe’s spelling) is the pp. of a verb signifyingto purpose, which is the exact meaning required. Cf.

“And y to turne to þee havetiȝt;”i.e. “I have resolved to turn to thee.”

“And y to turne to þee havetiȝt;”

i.e. “I have resolved to turn to thee.”

Political, Religious, and Love Poems; ed. Furnivall, 1866; p. 177.]

Back to Index Next