Within that place there was a pallaice,
Closed with walles of heathenessed:
The walles thereof were of cristall,
And the sommers of corall*.
Raynborne had grete dout to passe,
The watir so depe and brode was:
And at the laste his steede leepe
Into the brode watir deepe.

Thyrty fadom he sanke adowne,

e

Then cleped he to God Raynborne.

God hym help, his steede was goode,
And bure hym ovir that hydious floode.
To the pallaice he yodef anone,

And lyghted downe of his steede full soone.
Through many a chamber yede Raynborne,
A knyghte he found in dongeon.

Raynborne grete hym as a knyght courtoise,
"Who oweth," he said, "this fayre pallaice?"
That knyght answered him, "Yt is noght,
He oweth it that me hither broght."

"Thou art,” quod Raynburne, "in feeble plight,
Tell me thy name," he sayd, "syr knight."

"Walls built by the Pagans or Saracens. Walls built by magic.' Chaucer, in a verse taken from Syr Bevys, [Sign. a. ii.] says that his knight had travelled

As well in Christendom as in HETHNESS.
Prol. p. 2. v. 49. And in Syr Eglamour
of Artoys, Sign. E. ii.

Eglamour sayd to hym yeys,
I am come out of HETHENES.
Syr Bevys of Hamptoun. Sign. b. iii.
They found shippes more and lesse
Of panimes and of hethenesse.
Also, Sign. C. i.

The first dede withouten lesse
That Bevys dyd in hethenesse.
[I do not perfectly understand the
materials of this fairy palace.

The walles thereof were of cristall,
And the sommers of corall.

But Chaucer mentions corall in his tem-
ple of Diana. KNIGHTES TALE, v. 1912.
And northward, in a touret on the
wall,

Of alabastre white, and red corall,
An oratorie riche for to see.

Carpentier cites a passage from the ro-
mance De Troyes, in which a chamber of
alabaster is mentioned. SUPPL. LAT.
GLOSS. Du Cange, tom. i. p.136.

En celle chambre n'oit noienz,
De chaux, d'areine, de cimenz,
Enduit, ni moillerons, ni emplaistre,
Tot entiere fut alambastre.

ADDITIONS.]

That knyghte sayd to hym agayne,

66

My name is Amys of the Mountayne.
The lord is an Elvish man

That me into thys pryson wan.'

"Arte thou Amys," than sayde Raynborne,

"Of the Mountaynes the bold barrone?
In grete perill I have gone,

To seke thee in this rocke of stone.

But blissed be God now have I thee
Thou shalt go home with me."

"Let be," sayd Amys of the Mountayne,

"Great wonder I have of thee certayne;
How that thou hythur wan:

For syth this world fyrst began

No man hyther come ne myghte,

Without leave of the Elvish knyghte.

Me with thee thou mayest not lede," &c.&

Afterwards, the knight of the mountain directs Raynburne to find a wonderful sword which hung in the hall of the palace. With this weapon Raynburne attacks and conquers the Elvish knight; who buys his life, on condition of conducting his conqueror over the perilous ford, or lake, above described, and of delivering all the captives confined in his secret and impregnable dungeon.

Guyon's expedition into the Souldan's camp, an idea furnished by the crusades, is drawn with great strength and simplicity.

Aboute the syrcle for the nones
Were sett many precyous stones.
Above he had a coate armour wyde;
Hys sword he toke by hys syde:
And lept upon his stede anone,
Styrrope with foot touched he none.
Guy rode forth without boste,
Alone to the Soudan's hoste:
Guy saw all that countrie

Full of tentes and pavylyons bee:
On the pavylyon of the Soudone
Stoode a carbuncle-stone:

Guy wist therebie it was the Soudones,
And drew hym thyther for the nones.
At the meetei he founde the Soudone,
And hys barrons everychone,
And tenne kynges aboute hym,

All they were stout and grymme:
Guy rode forth, and spake no worde,
Tyll he cam to the Soudan's borde*;

i at dinner. * table.

Chaucer, Squ. T. 105. And up he rideth to the hie borde. Chaucer says that his knight had often "begon the bord abovin all nations.' Prol. 52. The term of chivalry, to begin the board, is to be placed in the uppermost seat of the hall. Anstis, Ord. Gart. i. App. p. xv. "The earl of Surry began the borde in presence: the earl of Arundel washed with him, and satt both at the first messe.... Began the borde at the chamber's end." i. e. sat at the head of that table which was at the end of the chamber. This was at Windsor, A. D. 1519. In Syr Eglamour of Artoys, we have to begin the dese, which is the same thing.

Lordes in halle wer sette

And waytes blewe to the mete.-
The two knyghtes the dese began.
Sign. D. iii. See Chaucer, Squ. T. 99.
and Kn. T. 2002. In a celebration of

the feast of Christmas at Greenwich,
in the year 1488, we have, "The duc
of Bedeford beganne the table on the right
side of the hall, and next untoo hym was
the lorde Dawbeneye," &c. That is,
He sate at the head of the table. Leland,
Coll. iii. 237. edit. 1770. To begin
the bourd is to begin the tournament.
Lydgate, Chron. Troy, b. ii. ch. 14.

The grete justes, bordes, or tournay.
I will here take occasion to correct
Hearne's explanation of the word Bour-
der in Brunne's Chron. p. 204.
A knygt a BOURDOUR king Richard hade
A douty man in stoure his name was
Markade.

BOURDOUR, Says Hearne, is boarder, pen-
sioner. But the true meaning is, a Wag,
an arch fellow, for he is here introduced
putting a joke on the king of France.
BOURDE is jest, trick, from the French.
See R. de Brunne ap. Hearne's Gloss.
Rob. Glo. p. 695; and above Sect. II.;

He ne rought' with whom he mette,
But on thys wyse the Soudan he grette:
"God's curse have thou and thyne,
And tho that levem on Apoline."
Than sayd the Soudan, "What art thou
That thus prowdlie speakest now?
Yet found I never man certayne
That suche wordes durst me sayne."

Guy sayd, "So God me save from hell,
My ryght nam I shall the tell;

Guy of Warwicke my name is."
Than sayd the Sowdan ywis,

"Arte thou the bolde knyght Guyon,
That art here in my pavylyon?

Thou sluest my cosyn Coldran

Of all Sarasyns the boldest man," &c."

I will add Guy's combat with the Danish giant Colbrond, as it is touched with great spirit, and may serve to illustrate some preceding hints concerning this part of our hero's history.

Then came Colbronde forthe anone,

On foote, for horse could bare hym none.
For when he was in armure dight
Fower horse ne bare hym might.

A man had ynough to done
To bere hym hys wepon.
Then Guy rode to Colbronde,
On hys stede ful wele rennende°:
Colbronde smote Guy in the fielde
In the middest of Syr Guyes shelde;

also Chauc. Gam. 1974. and Non. Urr.
2294. Knyghton mentions a favourite
in the court of England who could pro-
cure any grant from the king burdando.
Du Cange Not. Joinv. p. 166. Who
adds, "De là vient le mot de Bourdeurs,
qui estoient ces farceurs ou plaisantins
qui divertissoient les princes par le recit
des fables et des histoires des Romans.

-Aucuns estiment que ce mot vient des behourds, qui estoit une espece des Tournois." See also Diss. Joinv. p. 174. I cared, valued. Chaucer, Rom. R.

1873.

I ne rought of deth ne of life. m those who believe.

n

Sign. Q. iii.

⚫ running.

Through Guyes hawberk that stroke went,
And for no maner thyng it withstent P.
In two yt share Guyes stedes body
And fell to ground hastily.
Guy upstert as an eger lyoune,
And drue hys gode sworde browne:
To Colbronde he let it flye,
But he might not reche so hye.

On hys shoulder the stroke fell downe,
Through all hys armure share Guyon'.
Into the bodie a wounde untyde
That the red blude gan oute glyde.
Colbronde was wroth of that rap,
He thought to give Guy a knap.
He smote Guy on the helme bryght
That out sprang the fyre lyght.
Guy smote Colbronde agayne
Through shielde and armure certayne.
He made his swerde for to glyde
Into his bodie a wound ryht wyde.
So smart came Guyes bronde
That it braste in hys hond.

The romance of the SQUIRE OF LOW DEGREE, who loved the king's daughter of Hungary, is alluded to by Chaucer in the

It contains thirty-eight pages in quarto. "Imprinted at London by me Wyllyam Copland." I have never seen it in manuscript.

[This romance will be found in Mr. Ritson's Collection, vol. iii. p. 145, who characterizes it as a "strange and whimsical but genuine English performance." On Warton's opinion, "that it is alluded to by Chaucer in the Rime of Sir Topas," he remarks: "as Lybeaus Disconus, one of the romancees enumerateed by Chaucer, is alluded to in the Squyr

of lowe degre, it is not probablely, allso,
of his age."
But the Lybeaus Disco-
nus referred to in this romance, is evi-
dently a different version of the story
from that printed by Mr. Ritson, and the
quotation, if it prove any thing, would
rather speak for the existence of a more
ancient translation now unknown. Be-
sides, Mr. Ritson himself has supplied
us with an argument strongly favouring
Warton's conjecture. For if, as he ob-
serves, the Squyr of lowe degre be the
only instance of a romance containing
any such impertinent digressions or af-
fected enumerations of trees, birds, &c.
as are manifestly the object of Chaucer's
satire, the natural inference would be-