That this romance, either in French or English, existed' before the year 1300, is evident from its being cited by Robert of Gloucester, in his relation of Richard's reign.

In Romance of him imade me it may finde iwrite.

This tale is also mentioned as a romance of some antiquity among other famous romances, in the prologue of a voluminous metrical translation of Guido de Colonna, attributed to Lidgate. It is likewise frequently quoted by Robert de Brunne, who wrote much about the same time with Robert of Gloucester

Whan Philip tille Acres cam litelle was his dede,
The ROMANCE sais gret sham who so that pas wil rede.

* Chron. p. 487.

* Many speken of men that romaunces
rede, &c.

Of Bevys, Gy, and Gawayne,
Of KYNG RYCHARD, and Owayne,
Of Tristram, and Percyvayle,
Of Rowland ris, and Aglavaule,
Of Archeroun, and of Octavian,
Of Charles, and of Cassibedlan,

Of K[H]eveloke, Horne,and of Wade,
In romances that of hem bi made
That gestours dos of him gestes
At mangeres and at great festes,
Here dedis ben in remembraunce,
In many fair romaunce.

But of the worthiest wyght in wede,
That ever bystrod any strede
Spekes no man, ne in romaunce redes,
Off his battayle ne of his dedes;
Off that battayle spekes no man,
There all prowes of knyghtes began,
Thet was forsothe of the batayle
Thet at TROYE was saunfayle,
Of swythe a fyght as ther was one, &c.
Ffor ther were in thet on side,
Sixti kynges and dukes of pride.—
And there was the best bodi in dede
That ever yit wered wede,

Sithen the world was made so ferre, That was ECTOR in eche werre, &c. Laud. K 76. f. 1. fol. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. Cod. membr. Whether this poem was written by Lidgate, I shall not enquire at present. I shall only say here, that it is totally different from either of Lidgate's two poems on the THEBAN and TROJAN WARS; and that the manuscript,

which is beautifully written, appears to be of the age of Henry the Sixth.

[By the way, it appears from this quotation, that there was an old romance called WADE. Wade's Bote is mentioned in Chaucer's MARCHAUNTS TALE, v. 940. p. 68. Urr.

And eke these olde wivis, god it wote,
They connin so much crafte in Wadis bote.
Again, TROIL. CRESS. iii. 615.

He songe, she plaide, he tolde a tale
of Wade.

Where, says the glossarist, "A romantick story, famous at that time, of one WADE, who performed many strange exploits, and met with many wonderful adventures in his Boat Guigelot." Speght says, that Wade's history was long and fabulous. ADDITIONS.]

[The story of Wade is also alluded to in the following passage taken from the Romance of Sir Bevis:

Swiche bataile ded neuer non
Cristene man of flesch and bon--
Of a dragoun thar beside,
That Beues slough ther in that tide,
Saue Sire Launcelot de Lake,
He faught with a fur-drake,
And Wade dede also,

And neuer knightes boute thai to. The connection between Wade, and a hero bearing a similar name in the Wilkina Saga wil be noticed elsewhere.-EDIT.]

PASSUS. Compare Percy's Ball. ii. 66. 398. edit 1767.

The ROMANCER it sais Richard did make a pele 2.-
The ROMANCE of Richard sais he wan the toun".-
He tellis in the ROMANCE sen Acres wonnen was
How God gaf him fair chance at the bataile of Caifas.-
Sithen at Japhet was slayn fanuelle his stede

The ROMANS tellis gret pas of his douhty deded.—
Soudan so curteys never drank no wyne,

The same the ROMANS sais that is of Richardyne. In prisoun was he bounden, as the ROMANCE sais, In cheynes and lede wonden that hevy was of peis. I am not indeed quite certain, whether or no in some of these instances, Robert de Brunne may not mean his French original Peter Langtoft. But in the following lines he manifestly refers to our romance of RICHARD, between which and Langtoft's chronicle he expressly makes a distinction. And in the conclusion of the reign,

I knowe no more to ryme of dedes of kyng Richard:
Who so wille his dedes all the sothe se,

The romance that men reden ther is propirte.

This that I have said it is Pers sawes.

Als he in romance1 lad ther after gan I drawe1.

It is not improbable that both these rhyming chroniclers cite from the English translation: if so, we may fairly suppose that this romance was translated in the reign of Edward the First, or his predecessor Henry the Third. Perhaps earlier. This circumstance throws the French original to a still higher period.

In the royal library at Paris, there is "Histoire de Richard Roi d'Angleterre et de Maquemore d'Irlande en rimek."

Percy's Ball. ii. p. 157.

C p. 175.

b Ibid. [Warton's conjecture is perfectly correct in most of these instances. They contain allusions to circumstances which are unnoticed by Langtoft.-EDIT.] d Percy's Ball. ii. p. 175. e Ibid. p. 188. f p. 198. "The words of my original Peter Langtoft." In French.

i p. 205. Du Cange recites an old French manuscript prose romance, entitled Histoire de la Mort de Richard Roy d'Angleterre. Gloss. Lat. IND. AUCT. i. p. cxci. There was one, perhaps the same, among the manuscripts of the late Mr. Martin of Palgrave in Suffolk. * Num. 7532.

[An account of this romance will be found in Mr. Strutt's Regal Antiquities.

Richard is the last of our monarchs whose achievements were adorned with fiction and fable. If not a superstitious belief of the times, it was an hyperbolical invention started by the minstrels, which soon grew into a tradition, and is gravely recorded by the chroniclers, that Richard carried with him to the Crusades king Arthur's celebrated sword CALIBURN, and that he presented it as a gift, or relic, of inestimable value to Tancred king of Sicily, in the year 1191. Robert of Brunne calls this sword a jewelm.

And Richard at that time gaf him a faire juelle,

The gude swerd CALIBURNE which Arthur luffed so well." Indeed the Arabian writer of the life of the sultan Saladin, mentions some exploits of Richard almost incredible. But, as Lord Lyttelton justly observes, this historian is highly valuable on account of the knowledge he had of the facts which he relates. It is from this writer we learn, in the most authentic manner, the actions and negotiations of Richard in the course of the enterprise for the recovery of the Holy Land, and all the particulars of that memorable waro.

But before I produce a specimen of Richard's English romance, I stand still to give some more extracts from its Prologues, which contain matter much to our present purpose: as they have very fortunately preserved the subjects of many romances, perhaps metrical, then fashionable both in France and England. And on these therefore, and their origin, I shall take this opportunity of offering some remarks.

Fele romanses men make newe
Of good knyghtes strong and trewe:

It relates entirely to the Irish wars of
Richard II. and the latter part of the
reign of that unfortunate monarch. Mr.
Ritson has confounded Maquemore, with
Dermond Mac Morough, king of Lein-
ster, in the reign of Henry II. though
he adds with great candour, "but why
king Richard [cœur de lion] is intro-
duced does not appear."-EDIT.]

In return for several vessels of gold

and silver, horses, bales of silk, four great ships, and fifteen gallies, given by Tancred. Benedict. Abb. p. 642. edit. Hearne.

m Jocale. In the general and true sense of the word. Robert de Brunne, in another place, calls a rich pavilion a jowelle. p. 152. n Chron. p. 153. • See Hist. of Hen. II. vol. iv. p. 361.

App.

Of hey dedys men rede romance,
Bothe in England and in Fraunce;
Of Rowelond and of Olyver,
And of everie Doseper3,

Of Alysander and Charlemain,
Of kyng Arthor and of Gawayn;

How they wer knyghtes good and curteys,

Of Turpyn and of Ocier Daneys.

Of Troye men rede in ryme,

What werre ther was in olde tyme;

Of Ector and of Achylles,

What folk they slewe in that pres, &c.

And again in a second Prologue, after a pause has been

made by the minstrel in the course of singing the poem.

Now herkenes to my tale sothe
Though I swere yow an othe
I wole reden romaunces non
Of Paris', ne of Ypomydone,
Of Alisaundre, ne Charlemagne,
Of Arthour, ne of sere Gawain,
Nor of sere Launcelot the Lake,
Of Beffs, ne Guy ne sere Sydrake,
Ne of Ury, ne of Octavian,
Ne of Hector the strong man,
Ne of Jason, neither of Hercules,
Ne of Eneas, neither Achilles'.

P Charlemagne's Twelve peers. Douze
Pairs. Fr.

[The text has been corrected by Mr. Weber's edition of this romance, in his "Metrical Romances of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Centuries." S vols. 8vo. Edin. 1810.-EDIT.]

r

[The old printed copy reads Pertonape,] perhaps Parthenope, or Parthe

nopeus.

Line 6657. To some of these ro

mances the author of the manuscript LIVES OF THE SAINTS, written about the year 1200, and cited above at large, al

ludes in a sort of prologue. See SECт. i. p. 15. supr.

Wel auht we loug Cristendom that is so With oure lorde's herte blode that the dere y bougt,

spere hath y sougt.

Men wilnethe more yhere of batayle of kyngis,

And of knygtis hardy, that mochel is
lesyngis.

Of Roulond and of Olyvere, and Cy of
Warwyk,
Wawayen and Tristram that ne found-
de here y like.

Of

Here, among others, some of the most capital and favourite stories of romance are mentioned, Arthur, Charlemagne, the Siege of Troy with its appendages, and Alexander the Great: and there are four authors of high esteem in the dark ages, Geoffry of Monmouth, Turpin, Guido of Colonna, and Callisthenes, whose books were the grand repositories of these subjects, and contained most of the traditionary fictions, whether of Arabian or classical origin, which constantly supplied materials to the writers of romance. I shall speak of these authors, with their subjects, distinctly.

But I do not mean to repeat here what has been already observed" concerning the writings of Geoffry of Monmouth and Turpin. It will be sufficient to say at present, that these two fabulous historians recorded the achievements of Charlemagne and of Arthur: and that Turpin's history was artfully forged under the name of that archbishop about the year 1110, with a design of giving countenance to the Crusades from the example of so high an authority as Charlemagne, whose pretended visit to the holy sepulchre is described in the twentieth chapter.

Who so loveth to here tales of suche

thinge,

Here he may y here thyng that nys no lesynge,

Of postoles and marteres that hardi knygttes were,

And stedfast were in bataile and fledde nogt for no fere, &c.

The anonymous author of an antient manuscript poem, called "The boke of Stories called CURSOR MUNDI," translated from the French, seems to have been of the same opinion. His work consists of religious legends: but in the prologue he takes occasion to mention many tales of another kind, which were more agreeable to the generality of readers. MSS. Laud, K 55. f. 177. Bibl. Bodl. Men lykyn Jestis for to here And romans rede in divers manere Of Alexandre the conquerour, Of Julius Cesar the emperour, Of Greece and Troy the strong stryf, Ther many a man lost his lyf: Of Brut that baron bold of hand The first conquerour of Englond,

Of kyng Artour that was so ryche,
Was non in hys tyme so ilyche:
Of wonders that among his knyghts felle,
And auntyrs dedyn as men her telle,
As Gaweyn and othir full abylle
Which that kept the round tabyll,
How kyng Charles and Rowland fawght
With Sarazins, nold thei be cawght;
Of Trystram and Ysoude the swete,
How thei with love first gan mete.
Of kyng John and of Isenbras
Of Ydoyne and Amadas.
Stories of divers thynges
Of princes, prelates, and kynges,
Many songs of divers ryme
As English, French, and Latync, &c.
This ylke boke is translate
Into English tong to rede
For the love of English lede
Ffor comyn folk of England, &c.
Syldyn yt ys for any chaunce
English tong preched is in Fraunce, &c.
See Montf. Par. MSS. 7540. and p. 123.

supr.

See Diss. i.