Now skruketh rose and lylie flour, In somer, that suete tyde; That ded ne shal by glyde: Whoso wol fleysh-lust for-gon and hevene-blisse abyde On Jhesu be is thoht anon, that therled was ys sidef. To which we may add a song, probably written by the same author, on the five joys of the blessed Virgin. Ase y me rod this ender day, By grene wode, to seche play; Lythe, and ich ou tell may Al of that suete thinges. In the same pastoral vein, a lover, perhaps of the reign of king John, thus addresses his mistress, whom he supposes to be the most beautiful girl, "bituene Lyncolne and Lyndeseye, Northampton and Lounde"" When the nyhtegale singes the wodes waxen grene, While y lyve in worlde so wyde other nulle y seche*. f MSS. ibid. f. 80. Ibid. f. 81. b. h London. i MSS. ibid. f. 80. b. [The same conVOL. I. D fusion adverted to above, prevailed in the disposition of this song. The present copy follows the manuscript.-EDIT.] Ibid. f. 80. b. Nor are these verses unpleasing, in somewhat the same mea sure. My deth y love, my lyf ich hate for a levedy shene, Al y falewe so doth the lef in somer when hit is grene, Another, in the following little poem, enigmatically compares his mistress, whose name seems to be Joan, to various gems and flowers. The writer is happy in his alliteration, and his verses are tolerably harmonious. Ichot a burde in a bour, ase beryl so bryht, The primrose he passeth, the parevenke of prys, Coynte as columbine such hire cînde' ys, gro He is blosme upon bleo brihtest under bis With celydone ant sange as thou thi self sys, &c. Hire nome is in a note of the nyhtegale; I jasper. garnet. m streams, shines. white complexion. quaint. The curious Harleian volume, to which we are so largely indebted, has preserved a moral tale, a Comparison between age and youth, where the stanza is remarkably constructed. The various sorts of versification which we have already seen, evidently prove that much poetry had been written, and that the art had been greatly cultivated, before this period. Herkne to my ron, Of a mody mon, Clerc he was ful god, Of elde al hou yt ges. Soth withoute les. So moni mon undirstod. Nou herkne hou it wes." For the same reason, a sort of elegy on our Saviour's crucifixion should not be omitted. It begins thus: I syke when y singe for sorewe that y se When y with wypinge bihold upon the tre, Ant se Jhesu the suete Is hert blod for-lete, For the love of me; Ys woundes waxen wete, Thei wepen, still and mete, Marie reweth the. " Nor an alliterative ode on heaven, death, judgement, &c. Middel-erd for mon was mad, In soule soteleth sone. W Thah he ben derne done. MSS. ibid. f. 82. " Ibid. f. 80. W Ibid. f. 62. b. Many of these measures were adopted from the French chansons *. I will add one or two more specimens. On our Saviour's passion and death. Jesu for thi muchele miht Thou zef us of thi grace, In myn herte hit doth me god, On the same subject. Lutel wot hit any mon Hou love hym haveth y bounde, That for us o the rode ron, Ant bohte us with is wounde; The love of him us haveth ymaked sounde, Ever and oo, nyht and day, he haveth us in is thohte, He nul nout leose that he so deore bohte. Z The following are on love and gallantry. The poet, named Richard, professes himself to have been a great writer of love-songs. Weping haveth myn wonges* wet, For wilked worke ant wone of wyt, * See MSS. Harl. ut supr. f. 49. 76. y Ibid. f. 79. Probably this song has been somewhat modernised by tran scribers. z Ibid. f. 128. These lines afterwards occur, burlesqued and parodied, by a writer of the same age. [cheeks, A. S. pang, Ital. guancia.] Hit syt and semeth noht, Y wis hit is all wrong. a It was customary with the early scribes, when stanzas consisted of short lines, to throw them together like prose. thus: As "A wayle whyt as whalles bon | a grein in golde that godly shon | a tortle that min herte is on | in tounes trewe | Hire gladship nes never gon | whil y may glewe."b Sometimes they wrote three or four verses together as one line. With longyng y am lad | on molde y waxe mad | a maide marreth me, Y grede y grone un glad | for selden y am sad | that semly for te se. Levedi thou rewe me | to routhe thou havest me rad | be bote of that y bad my lyf is long on the. Again, Most i ryden by rybbes dale | widle wymmen for te wale | ant welde wuch ich wolde : Founde were the feirest on that ever was mad of blod ant bon | in boure best with bolde.d This mode of writing is not uncommon in antient manuscripts of French poetry. And some critics may be inclined to suspect, that the verses which we call Alexandrine, accidentally assumed their form merely from the practice of absurd transcribers, who frugally chose to fill their pages to the extremity, and violated the metrical structure for the sake of saving their vellum. It is certain, that the common stanza of four short lines may be reduced into two Alexandrines, and on 2 MSS. ibid. f. 66. b Ibid. f. 67. Ibid. 63. b. d Ibid. f. 66. |