For lyke as he aloftè dyd expresse
Wordes of joyè or of hevinesse,—

X

So craftely they could them" transfygure. *

It is added, that these plays, or rytes of tragedyes old, were acted at Troy, and in the theatre halowed and yholde, when the months of April and May returned.

In this detail of the dramatic exhibition which prevailed in the ideal theatre of Troy, a poet, placed on the stage in a pulpit, and characteristically habited, is said to have recited a series of tragical adventures; whose pathetic narrative was afterwards expressed, by the dumb gesticulations of a set of masqued actors. Some perhaps may be inclined to think, that this imperfect species of theatric representation, was the rude drama of Lydgate's age. But surely Lydgate would not have described at all, much less in a long and laboured digression, a public shew, which from its nature was familiar and notorious. On the contrary, he describes it as a thing obsolete, and existing only in remote times. Had a more perfect and legitimate stage now subsisted, he would not have deviated from his subject, to communicate unnecessary information, and to deliver such minute definitions of tragedy and comedy. On the whole, this formal history of a theatre, conveys nothing more than an affected display of Lydgate's learning; and is collected, yet with apparent inaccuracy and confusion of circumstances, from what the antient grammarians have left concerning the origin of the Greek tragedy. Or perhaps it might be borrowed by our author from some French paraphrastic version of Colonna's Latin

romance".

Among the antient authors, beside those already mentioned, cited in this poem, are Lollius for the history of Troy, Ovid for the tale of Medea and Jason, Ulysses and Polyphemus, the Myrmidons and other stories, Statius for Polynices and Eteocles, the venerable Bede, Fulgentius the mythologist, Justinian

the actors.

w themselves. * Lib. ii. cap. x. See also, B. iii. c. xxviii.

y Colonna calls him, ille FABULARIUS Sulmonensis, fabulose commentans, &c. Signat. b. 2.

with whose institutes Colonna as a civilian must have been well acquainted, Pliny, and Jacobus de Vitriaco. The last is produced to prove, that Philometer, a famous philosopher, invented the game of chess, to divert a tyrant from his cruel purposes, in Chaldea; and that from thence it was imported into Greece. But Colonna, or rather Lydgate, is of a different opinion; and contends, in opposition to his authority, that this game, so sotyll and so marvaylous, was discovered by prudent clerkes during the siege of Troy, and first practised in that city. Jacobus de Vitriaco was a canon regular at Paris, and, among other dignities in the church, bishop of Ptolemais in Palestine, about the year 1230. This tradition of the invention of chess is mentioned by Jacobus de Vitriaco in his ORIENTAL AND OCCIDENTAL HISTORY. The anecdote of Philometer is, I think, in Egidius Romanus on this subject, above mentioned. Chaucer calls Athalus, that is Attalus Philometer, the same person, and who is often mentioned in Pliny, the inventor of chess".

I must not pass over an instance of Lydgate's gallantry, as it is the gallantry of a monk. Colonna takes all opportunities of satirising the fair sex; and Lydgate with great politeness declares himself absolutely unwilling to translate those passages of this severe moralist, which contain such unjust and illiberal misrepresentations of the female character. Instead of which, to obviate these injurious reflections, our translator enters upon a formal vindication of the ladies; not by a panegyric on their beauty, nor encomiums on those amiable accomplishments, by which they refine our sensibilities, and give elegance to life; but by a display of that religious fortitude with which some women have suffered martyrdom; or of that inflexible chastity, by means of which others have been snatched up alive into heaven, in a state of genuine virginity. Among other striking examples which the calendar affords, he mentions the transcendent grace of the eleven thousand virgins who were martyred at Cologne in Germany. In the mean time, female saints, as DREME, p. 408. col. 2. edit Urr.

in three books.

I suspect, in the barbarous ages were regarded with a greater degree of respect, on account of those exaggerated ideas of gallantry which chivalry inspired: and it is not improbable that the distinguished honours paid to the virgin Mary might have partly proceeded from this principle.

Among the anachronistic improprieties which this poem contains, some of which have been pointed out, the most conspicuous is the fiction of Hector's sepulchre, or tomb: which also merits our attention for another reason, as it affords us an opportunity of adding some other notices of the modes of antient architecture to those already mentioned. The poet from Colonna supposes, that Hector was buried in the principal church of Troy, near the high altar, within a magnificent oratory, erected for that purpose, exactly resembling the Gothic shrines of our cathedrals, yet charged with many romantic decorations. With crafty archys raysyd wonder clene,

Embowed over all the work to cure,

So marveylous was the celature:
That al the rofe, and closure envyrowne,
Was of fyne goldè plated up and downe,
With knottès gravè wonder curyous
Fret ful of stonys rich and precious, &c.

The structure is supported by angels of gold. The steps are of crystall. Within, is not only an image of Hector in solid gold; but his body embalmed, and exhibited to view with the resemblance of real life, by means of a precious liquor circulating through every part in golden tubes artificially disposed, and operating on the principles of vegetation. This is from the chemistry of the times. Before the body were four inextinguishable lamps in golden sockets. To complete the work, Priam founds a regular chantry of priests, whom he accommodates with mansions near the church, and endows with revenues, to sing in this oratory for the soul of his son Hector.

b with.

B. iii. c. xxviii. Joseph of Exeter in his Latin poem entitled ANTIOCHEIS, or the CRUSADE, has borrowed from this

tomb of Hector, in his brilliant description of the mausoleum of Teuthras. lib. iv. 451. I have quoted the passage in the SECOND DissertatION.

In the Bodleian library, there is a prodigious folio manuscript on vellum, a translation of Colonna's TROJAN HISTORY into versed; which has been confounded with Lydgate's TROYEBOKE now before us. But it is an entirely different work, and is written in the short minstrel-metre. I have given a specimen of the Prologue above. It appears to me to be Lydgate's TROYE-BOKE divested of the octave stanza, and reduced into a measure which might more commodiously be sung to the harp. It is not likely that Lydgate is its author: that he should either thus transform his own composition, or write a

new piece on the subject. That it was a poem in some considerable estimation, appears from the size and splendour of the manuscript: and this circumstance induces me to believe, that it was at a very early period ascribed to Lydgate. On the other hand, it is extraordinary that the name of the writer of so prolix and laborious a work, respectable and conspicuous at least on account of its length, should have never transpired. The language accords with Lydgate's age, and is of the reign of Henry the Sixth and to the same age I refer the hand-writing, which is executed with remarkable elegance and beauty.

Colonna is much indebted; but perhaps
from some later French romance, which
copied, or translated, Colonna's book.
This, among other circumstances, we
may collect from these lines.

Dares the heraud of Troye says,
And Dites that was of the Gregeis, &c.
And after him cometh maister GY,
That was of Rome a notary.
This maister Gy, or Guy, that is Guido
of Colonna, he adds, wrote this history,

In the manere I schall telle.

That is "my author, or romance, follows Colonna." See supr. vol. i. p. 129.

Dares the heraud is Dares Phrygius, and
Dites Dictys Cretensis.

This poem, in the Bodleian manuscript aforesaid, is finished, as I have partly observed, with an invocation to God, to save the author, and the readers, or hearers; and ends with this line,

Seythe alle Amen for charite. But this rubric immediately follows, at the beginning of a page: "Hic bellum de Troye ffinit et Greci transierunt versus patriam suam.' Then follow several lineated pages of vellum, without writing. I have never seen any other manuscript of this piece.