The Soudan neigh he hedde islawe,
But thritti thousent of hethene lawe
Coomen him for to were;

And broughten him ayeyn upon his stede,
And holpe him wel in that nede,

That no mon miht him dere".

Whon he was brouht uppon his stede,
He sprong as sparkle doth of glede2,
For wrathe and for envye;

Alle that he hutte he made hem blede,
He ferde as he wolde a wedea,

"Mahoun help," he gan crye.
Mony an helm ther was unweved,
And mony a bacinet tocleved,
And sadeles mony emptye;

Men mihte se uppon the feld

Moni a kniht ded under scheld,

Of the Cristen cumpagnie.

Whon the kyng of Taars saugh hem so ryde,
No lengor there he nolde abyde,

Bote fleyh to his oune citè:

The Sarazyns, that ilke tyde,

Slough adoun bi vche syde

Vr Cristene folk so fre.

The Sarazyns that tyme, sauns fayle,
Slowe vre Cristene in battayle,

That reuthe hit was to se;
And on the morwe for heored sake
Truwes thei gunne togidere take,
A moneth and dayes thre.

As the kyng of Tars sat in his halle,
He made ful gret deol withalle,

coal, fire-brand.

as if he was mad.

b helmet.

e flew.

For the folk that he hedde ilore

His douhter com in riche palle,

On kneos heoh gon biforen him falle,
And seide with syking sore:

"Fader," heo seide, "let me beo his wyf,
That ther be no more stryf," &c.

To prevent future bloodshed, the princess voluntarily declares she is willing to be married to the Soldan, although a Pagan: and notwithstanding the king her father peremptorily refuses his consent, and resolves to continue the war, with much difficulty she finds means to fly to the Soldan's court, in order to produce a speedy and lasting reconciliation by marrying him.

To the Soudan heo is ifare;

He com with mony an heigh lordyng,
For to welcom that swete thyng,

Ther heo com in hire chare*:
He custe' hire wel mony a sithe
His joye couthe no man kithe",
Awei was al hire care.

Into chambre heo was led,
With riche clothes heo was cled,

Hethene as thaug heo were".
The Soudan ther he sat in halle,
He comaundede his knihtes alle
That mayden for to fette,
In cloth of riche purpil palle,
And on hire hed a comeli calle,

Bi the Soudan heo was sette.
Unsemli was hit for to se

Heo that was so bright of ble

To habbe so foule a mette", &c.

They are then married, and the wedding is solemnized with a grand tournament, which they both view from a high tower. She is afterwards delivered of a son, which is so deformed as to be almost a monster. But at length she persuades the Soldan to turn Christian; and the young prince is baptized, after which ceremony he suddenly becomes a child of most extraordinary beauty. The Soldan next proceeds to destroy his Saracen idols.

He hente a staf with herte grete,
And al his goddes he gan to bete,
And drouh hem alle adoun;
And leyde on til that he con swete,
With sterne strokes and with grete,
On Jovyn* and Plotoun,

On Astrot and sire Jovin

On Tirmagaunt and Apollin,

He brak hem scolle and croun;

On Tirmagaunt, that was heore brother,
He lafte no lym hole with other,

Ne on his lord seynt Mahoun, &c.

The Soldan then releases thirty thousand Christians, whom he had long detained prisoners. As an apostate from the pagan religion, he is powerfully attacked by several neighbouring Saracen nations: but he solicits the assistance of his father-inlaw the king of Tars; and they both joining their armies, in a pitched battle, defeat five Saracen kings, Kenedoch, Lesyas king of Taborie, Merkel, Cleomadas, and Membrok. There is a warmth of description in some passages of this poem, not unlike the manner of Chaucer. The reader must have already

• [I know not if by sire Jovyn he means Jupiter, or the Roman emperour called Jovinian, against whom saint Jerom wrote, and whose history is in the GESTA ROMANORUM, C. 59. He is mentioned by Chaucer as an example of pride, luxury, and lust. SoMP. T. v. 7511. Verdier (in v.) recites a Moralité on Jovinian, with nineteen

characters, printed at Lyons, from an antient copy in 1581, 8vo, with the title L'Orgueil et presomption de l'Empereur JOVINIAN. But Jovyn being mentioned here with Plotoun and Apollin, seems to mean Jove or Jupiter; and the appellation SIRE perhaps implies father, or chief, of the heathen gods.ADDITIONS.]

observed, that the stanza resembles that of Chaucer's RIME OF SIR TOPAS".

IPOMEDON is mentioned among the romances in the Prologue of RICHARD CUER DE LYON; which, in an antient copy of the British Museum, is called SYR IPOMYDON: a name borrowed from the Theban war, and transferred here to a tale of the feudal times'. This piece is evidently derived from a French original. Our hero Ippomedon is son of Ermones king of Apulia, and his mistress is the fair heiress of Calabria. About the year 1230, William Ferrabrass, and his brethren, sons of Tancred the Norman, and well known in the romantic history of the Paladins, acquired the signories of Apulia and Calabria. But our English romance seems to be immediately translated from the French; for Ermones is called king of Poyle, or Apulia, which in French is Pouille. I have transcribed some of the most interesting passages.

Ippomedon, although the son of a king, is introduced waiting in his father's hall, at a grand festival. This servitude was so far from being dishonourable, that it was always required as a preparatory step to knighthood".

Every yere the kyng wold

At Whytsontyde a fest hold

Off dukis, erlis, and barons,

Many there come frome dyvers townes,

Ladyes, maydens, gentill and fre,

Come thedyr from ferre contrè:

And grette lordis of ferre lond,

Thedyr were prayd by fore the hond ".
When all were come togedyr than

There was joy of mani a man;

The romance of SIR LIBEAUX or Ly-" [Printed in Mr. Weber's collection of BIUS DISCONIUS, quoted by Chaucer, is in this stanza. MSS. Cott. CAL. A 2. f.40.

MSS. Harl. 2252. 44. f. 54. And in the library of Lincoln cathedral (K. k. 3. 10.) is an antient imperfect printed copy, wanting the first sheet.

Metrical Romances, whose text has been substituted for Warton's. It has also been analysed by Mr. Ellis.-EDIT.] Bras de fer. Iron arms.

MSS. f. 55. "See vol. i. p. 43, note". w before-hand.

Full riche I wote were hyr seruice,
For better might no man devyse.
Ipomydon that day servyd in halle,
All spake of hym bothe grete and smalle,
Ladies and maydens by helde hym on,
So godely a man they had sene none:
Hys feyre chere in halle theym smert
That mony a lady smote throw the hert.
And in there hertis they made mone
That there lordis ne were suche one.
After mete they went to pley,
All the peple, as I you sey;

Some to chambre, and some to boure,
And some to the hye towre*;

And some in the halle stode

And spake what hem thought gode:
Men that were of that cite y

Enquered of men of other cuntrè, &c.

Here a conversation commences concerning the heiress of Calabria: and the young Prince Ippomedon immediately forms a resolution to visit and to win her. He sets out in disguise. Now they go furth on her way, Ipomydon to hys men gan say, That ther be none of hem alle, So hardy by his name hym calle, Whereso thei wend ferre or nere, Or over the strange ryvere; "Ne man telle what I am, What I schall be, ne whens I cam." All they granted hys commandement, And forthe they went with one assent.

* In the feudal castles, where many persons of both sexes were assembled, and who did not know how to spend the time, it is natural to suppose that different parties were formed, and different

schemes of amusement invented. One
of these was to mount to the top of one
of the highest towers in the castle.
y The Apulians.