his original, and by no means deserves the praises which Browne in the following elegant pastoral lyrics has bestowed on his performance, and which more justly belong to the genuine Gothic, or rather Arabian, inventor. Well I wot, the man that first Sung this lay, did quenche his thirst In the Muses Helicon. Many times he hath oeen seene With the faeries on the greene, And to them his pipe did sound Mickle solace would they make him, And where Flora spreads her treasure Safely home they then would see him, And from brakes and quagmires free him. Now a dayes for harmonie.2 The history of Darius, who gave this legacy to his three sons, is incorporated with that of Alexander, which has been decorated with innumerable fictions by the Arabian writers. There is also a separate romance on Darius. And on Philip of Macedon 2. MSS. LAUD. K. 78. [See infra, vol. ii. 348.1 [Mr. Warton has not been [strictly] accurate in this statement. Occleve's immediate model was our English Gesta; nor is it improbable that he might even a Bibl. REG. Paris. MSS. Cod. 3031. CHAP. CXXIV. Of the knights who intercede for their friend with a king, by coming to his court, each half on horseback and half on foot. This is the last novel in the CENTO NOVELLE ANTICHE. CHAP. CXXVI. Macrobius is cited for the address and humour of an ingenuous boy named Papirius. This is one of the most lively stories in Macrobiusa. CHAP. CXXviii. The forged testament of the wicked knight, under the reign of Maximian. CHAP. CXXIX. A young prince is sent on his travels. His three friends. CHAP. CXXXii. The four physicians. CHAP. CXXXiii. The king and his two greyhounds. CHAP. CXXXIV. A story from Seneca. CHAP. CXXXV. The story of Lucretia, from saint Austin's CITY OF GOD. A more classical authority for this story, had it been at hand, would have been slighted for saint Austin's CITY OF GOD, which was the favorite spiritual romance; and which, as the transition from religion to gallantry was antiently very easy, gave rise to the famous old French romance called the CITY of Ladies. CHAP. CXXXVII. The Roman emperor who is banished for his impartial distribution of justice. From the CRONICA of Eusebius. CHAP. CXXXViii. King Medro. CHAP. CXXXIX. King Alexander, by means of a mirrour, kills a cockatrice, whose look had destroyed the greatest part of his army. Aelian, in his VARIOUS HISTORY, mentions a serpent which appearing from the mouth of a cavern, stopped the march of Alexander's army through a spacious desert. The wild beasts, serpents, and birds, which Alexander encountered in marching through India, were most extravagantly imagined by the 2 SATURNAL. Lib. i. c. 6. pag. 147. Londin. 1694. oriental fabulists, and form the chief wonders of that monarch's romance". CHAP. cxl. The emperor Eraclius reconciles two knights. This story is told by Seneca of Cneius Piso. It occurs in Chaucer's SOMPNOUR'S TALE, as taken from Senec, or Senecad. CHAP. cxli. A knight who had dissipated all his substance in frequenting tournaments, under the reign of Fulgentius, is reduced to extreme poverty. A serpent haunted a chamber of his house; who being constantly fed with milk by the knight, in return made his benefactor rich. The knight's ingratitude and imprudence in killing the serpent, who was supposed to guard a treasure concealed in his chamber. Merlea's dragon guarding the golden fleece is founded on the oriental idea of treasure being guarded by serpents. We are told in Vincent of Beauvais, that there are mountains of solid gold in India guarded by dragons and griffins. CHAP. cxliii. A certain king ordained a law, that if any man was suddenly to be put to death, at sun-rising a trumpet should be sounded before his gate. The king made a great feast for all his nobles, at which the most skilful musicians were present. But amidst the general festivity, the king was sad and silent. All the guests were surprised and perplexed at the king's melancholy; but at length his brother ventured In Vincent of Beauvais, there is a long fabulous History of Alexander, transcribed partly from Simeon Seth. SPEC. HIST. lib. iv. c. i. f. 41. a. seq. edit. Ven. 1591. fol. De IRA, lib. i. c. 8. 4 Ver. 7600. Tyrwh. e SPECUL. HIST. lib. i. c. 64. fol. 9. b. f In the days of chivalry, a concert of a variety of instruments of music constantly made a part of the solemnity of a splendid feast. Of this many instances have been given. I will here add another, from the unprinted metrical romance of EMARE. MSS. Cott. CALIG. A. 2. fol. 71. a. Syre Kadore lette make a feste, Wyth hys lorde the kynge; Bothe harpe, and fydyllyng: Byfore that nobull kyng: She semed non erdly thynge, &c. Att everie cours came the loud minstralsie. to ask him the cause. The king replied, "Go home, and you shall hear my answer to-morrow." The king ordered his trumpeters to sound early the next morning before his brother's gate, and to bring him with them to judgment. The brother, on hearing this unexpected dreadful summons, was seized with horror, and came before the king in a black robe. The king commanded a deep pit to be made, and a chair composed of the most frail materials, and supported by four slight legs, to be placed inclining over the edge of the pit. In this the brother, being stripped naked, was seated. Over his head a sharp sword was hung by a small thread of silk. Around him four men were stationed with swords exceedingly sharp, who were to wait for the king's word, and then to kill him. In the mean time, a table covered with the most costly dishes was spread before him, accompanied with all sorts of music. Then said the king, "My brother, why are you so sad? Can you be dejected, in the midst of this delicious music, and with all these choice dainties?" He answered, "How can I be glad, when I have this morning heard the trumpet of death at my doors, and while I am seated in this tottering chair? If I make the smallest motion, it will break, and I shall fall into the pit, from which I shall never arise again. If I lift my head, the suspended sword will penetrate my brain; while these four tormentors only wait your command to put me to death." The king replied, "Now I will answer your question, why I was sad yesterday. I am exactly in your situation. I am seated, like you, in a frail and perishable chair, ready to tumble to pieces every moment, and to throw me into the infernal pit. Divine judgment, like this sharp sword, hangs over my head: and I am surronnded, like you, with four executioners. That before me is Death, whose coming I cannot tell; that behind me, my Sins, which are prepared to accuse me before the tribunal of God; that on the right, the Devil, who is ever watching for his prey; and that on the left, the Worm, who is now hungering after my flesh. Go in peace, my dearest brother: and never ask me again why I am sad at a feast.” Gower, in the CONFESSIO AMANTIS, may perhaps have copied the circumstance of the morning trumpet from this apologue. His king is a king of Hungary. It so befell, that on a dawe There was ordeined by the lawe Which was cleped the trompe of deathe: Tho wist he by the lawe, and knewe That he was schurly deades, &c. But Gower has connected with this circumstance a different story, and of an inferior cast, both in point of moral and imagination. The truth is, Gower seems to have altogether followed this story as it appeared in the SPECULUM HISTORIALE of Vincent of Beauvais, who took it from Damascenus's romance of BARLAAM AND Josaphati. Part of it is thus told in Caxton's translation of that legend. "And the kynge hadde suche a custome, that whan one sholde be delyvered to Lib. i. fol. xix. b. col. i. h Ubi supr. p. ccxxiii. i Opr. ut supr. pag. 12. *See Caxton's GOLDEN Legende, fol. ccclxxxxiii. b. See also METRICAL LIVES OF THE SAINTS, MSS. BODL. 779. f. 292. a. |