With al his knyghtes everilkane, Behind leved thar noght anes.. The king kest water on the stane, The storme rase ful sone onane membered or retained its original use in the following passage of SAMSON AGONISTES, ver. 1196. And in your city held my nuptial feast: But your ill-meaning politician lords, Under pretence of BRIDAL friends and guests, Appointed to await me thirty spies. "Under pretence of friends and guests invited to the BRIDAL." But in PARADISE LOST, he speaks of the evening star hastening to light the BRIDAL LAMP, which in another part of the same poem he calls the NUPTIAL, TORCH. viii. 520. xi. 590. I presume this Saxon BRIDALE is Bride-Ale, the FEAST in honour of the bride or marriage. ALE, simply put, is the feast or the merry-making, as in PIERCE PLOWMAN, fol. xxxii. b. edit. So Chaucer of his FREERE, Urr. p. 87. v. 85. And they were only glad to fill his purse, And maden him grete festis at the NALE. Nale is ALE. "They feasted him, or entertained him, with particular respect, at the parish-feast," &c. Again PLowMAN'S TALE, p. 125. v. 2110. At the Wrestling, and at the Wake, And the chief chaunters at the NALE. See more instances supr. vol. i. 63. That ALE is festival, appears from its sense in composition; as, among others, in the words Leet-ale, Lamb-ale, Whitson-ale, Clerk-ale, and Church-ale. LEET-ALE, in some parts of England, signifies the Dinner at a court-leet of a manor for the jury and customary tenants. LAMB-ALE is still used at the village of Kirtlington in Oxfordshire, for an annual feast or celebrity at lambshearing. WHITSON-ALE is the common name in the midland counties, for the rural sports and feasting at Whitsontide. CLERK-ALE occurs in Aubrey's manuscript History of WILTSHIRE. "In the Easter holidays was the CLARKES-ALE, for his private benefit and the solace of the neighbourhood." MSS. Mus. ASHм. Oxоn. CHURCH-ALE was a feast established for the repair of the church, or in honour of the church-saint, &c. In Dodsworth's Manuscripts, there is an old indenture, made before the Reformation, which not only shews the design of the Church-ale, but explains this particular use and application of the word Ale. The parishioners of Elveston and Okebrook, in Derbyshire, agree jointly, "to brew four ALES, and every ALE of one quarter of malt, betwixt this and the feast of saint John Baptist next coming. And that every inhabitant of the said town of Okebrook shall be at the several ALES. And every husband and his wife shall pay two pence, every cottager one penny, and all the inhabitants of Elveston shall have and receive all the profits and advantages coming of the said ALES, to the use and behoof of the said church of Elveston, And the inhabitants of Elveston shall brew eight ALES betwixt this and the feast of saint John Baptist, at the which ALES the inhabitants of Okebrook shall come and pay as before rehersed. And if he be away at one ALE, to pay at the toder ALE for both," &c. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. vol. 148. f. 97. See also our CHURCH CANONS, given in 1603. CAN. 88. The application of what is here collected to the word BRIDALE, is obvious. But Mr. Astle has a curious record, about 1575, which proves the BRIDE-ALE Synonymous with the WEDDYN-ALE. During the course of queen Elisabeth's entertainments at Kenilworth-castle, in 1575, a BRYDE-ALE was celebrated with a great variety of shews and sports. Lane With wikked weders, kene and calde, The king and his men ilkane And alsone than said the kyng, Sir Kay, I grante the thine askyng. Sir Ywaine is victorious, who discovers himself to king Arthur after the battle. And sone sir Ywaine gan him tell Of al his far how it byfell, ham's LETTER, dated the same year. Among bishop Tanner's manuscript additions to Cowell's Law-Glossary in the Bodleian library, is the following Note, from his own Collections. [Lit. V.] "A.D. 1468. Prior Cant. et Čommissarii visitationem fecerunt (diocesi Cant. vacante per mortem archiepiscopi) et ibi publicatum erat, quod Potationes factæ in ecclesiis, vulgariter dictæ YEVEALYS', vel BREDEALYS, non essent 'give-ales, or gift-ales. ulterius in usu sub pœna excommunicationis majoris." Had the learned author of the Dissertation on BARLEY WINE been as well acquainted with the British as the Grecian literature, this long note would perhaps have been unnecessary. & one. h wicked is here, accursed. In which sense it is used by Shakespeare's Caliban, TEMP. Act i. Sc. ii. As WICKED dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather, &c. i strong. * to defend the fountain, the office of the lord of this castle. I readily. m bestrode. 2 bride-ales. With the knight how that he sped, And how the Mayden him helpid wele: Sir kyng, he sayd, I yow byseke, Cumand al hir men to wende, Thar was grete joy, I yow bihetes, n oft-times. in ilka strete, ง And damysels danceand ful wele, Of al this werld thou beres the floure! And blessed be he that the brynges! V Bot sone when he of hir had syght, gallantries, jewels. Davie says, that in one of Alexander's battles, many a lady lost her drewery. GESTE ALEX ANDER, MS. p. 86. Athens is called the w fold. Of maidens was thar so gude wane*, That ilka knight myght take ane. The king stays here eight days, entertained with various sports. And ilk day thai had solace sere assembly, [a great many.] Y hawking, [for herons, ducks, &c.— PARK.] z There are three old poems on the exploits of Gawain, one of the heroes of this romance. There is a fourth in the Scotch dialect, by Clerke of Tranent, an old Scotch poet. See LAMENT FOR THE DEATH OF THE MAKKARIS, st. xvii. Clerke of Tranent eke has [death] tane That made the Aventers of GAWANE. ANC. SCOT. P. 1576. The two heroes of this romance, YWAIN and GAWAIN, are mentioned jointly in a very old French version of the British or Armorican LAY OF LAUNVAL, of which there is a beautiful vellum manuscript. MSS. Cott. VESPAS. B. xiv. [supr. modo citat.] Ensemble od eus GAWAYNS, E sis cosins li beus YWAYNS. This LAY, or SONG, like the romance in the text, is opened with a feast celebrated at Whitsontide by king Arthur at Kardoyl, a French corruption from Carliol, by which is meant Cairleon in Wales, sometimes in romances confounded with Cardiff. [See Geoffr. Monm. ix. 12.] "Jci commence le Lay de LAUNVAL." Laventure de un Lay, Cum ele avint vus cunteray, curteys, Pur les Escot, e pur les Pis, En la terre de Logres' le trououent, A ceus de la Table Runde, &c. That is, "HERE BEGINS THE LAY OF LAUNVAL.-I will relate to you.] The Adventure of a certain LAY, made of a gentle vassal, whom in Bretaigne they called LAUNVAL. The brave and courteous king Arthur sojourned at Kardoyl, for making war against the Scots and Picts, who destroyed the country. He found them in the land of Logres, where they committed frequent outrages. The king was there at the feast of Pentecost, where he gave rich gifts to the counts and barons, and the knights of the round table," &c. The writing of this manuscript of LAUNVAL Seems about 1300. The composition is undoubtedly much earlier. There is another, MSS. HARL. 978. § 112. This I have cited in the FIRST DISSERTATION. From this French LAUNVAL is translated, but with great additions, the English LAUNFALL, of which I have given several extracts in the third DISSERTATION prefixed to the first volume. [See also supr. vol. ii. p. 430, NOTE A. I presume this romance of YwAIN and 1 Logres, or Loegria, from Locrine, was the middle part of Britain. 3 counts. So in SIR ROBERT OF GLOUCESTER, we have CONTASS for countess. On which word his editor Hearne observes, that king James the First used to call a Countess a cuntys. And he quotes one of James's letters, "Come and bring the three Cuntys [for countesses] with you." GLOSS. p. 635. |