And the lyf of Alysaunder Of whom fleigh so riche sklaunder. With dukes, erles, and folk of pris, With many knighth and doughtty man, Toward the cité of Facen; After kyng Porus that flowen was He wolde wende thorough desert C Fyve thousande I understonde At Mede so bigynneth Ynde: Of alle the londes in the est, And oth the south half sikerlyk To the cee taketh of Affryk; And the north half to a mountayne, That is ycleped Caucasyne. b filed. c took. d strait. * Caucasus. Forsothe yee shullen understonde And never more wynter ne chalen'. Twyes hy gaderen fruyt there And wyne and corne in one yere. In the londe als I fynde, of Ynde And boroughs tounes swithe feles. Ne held thou it noughth ferlich Ac by that thou understonde the gestes Edward the Second is said to have carried with him to the siege of Stirling castle, in Scotland, a poet named Robert Baston. He was a Carmelite friar of Scarborough; and the king intended that Baston, being an eye-witness of the expedition, should celebrate his conquest of Scotland in verse. Hollingshead, an historian not often remarkable for penetration, mentions this circumstance as a singular proof of Edward's presumption and confidence in his undertaking against Scotland: but a poet seems to have been a stated officer in the royal retinue when the king went to war. Baston, however, appears to have been chiefly a Latin poet, and therefore does not properly fall into our series. At least his poem on the siege of Striveling castle is written in monkish Latin hexa meters: and our royal bard being taken prisoner in the expedition, was compelled by the Scotch to write a panegyric, for his ransom, on Robert Brus, which is composed in the same style and language. Bale mentions his Poemata, et Rhythmi, Tragedia et Comœdiæ vulgares'. Some of these indeed appear to have been written in English: but no English pieces of this author now remain. In the mean time, the bare existence of dramatic compositions in England at this period, even if written in the Latin tongue, deserve notice in investigating the progress of our poetry. For the same reason I must not pass over a Latin piece, called a comedy, written. in this reign, perhaps by Peter Babyon; who by Bale is styled an admirable rhetorician and poet, and flourished about the year 1317. This comedy is thus entitled in the Bodleian manuscript, De Babione et Croceo domino Babionis et Viola filiastra Babionis quam Croceus duxit invito Babione, et Pecula uxore Babionis et Fodio suo, &c." It is written in long and short Latin verses, without any appearance of dialogue. In what manner, if ever, this piece was represented theatrically, cannot easily be discovered or ascertained. Unless we suppose it to have been recited by one or more of the characters concerned, at some public entertainment. The story is in Gower's CONFESSIO AMANTIS. Whether Gower had it from J It is extant in Fordun's Scoti-chron. c. xxiii. 1. 12. Leland. ut supr. And MSS. Harl. 1819. Brit. Mus. See also Wood, Hist. Ant. Univ. Oxon. i. p. 101. 1 Apud Tanner, p. 79. m Arch. B. 52. [It is difficult to account for the decided yet erroneous manner in which Warton has spoken of this piece. In the Cotton manuscript, (Titus A. xx.) the several parts of the dialogue are distinguished by initial capitals; and on the opposite side stand marginal notices of the change of person. Thus: "Babio, Viola; Viola, Babioni; Fodius, Babioni; Babio, Croceo."-The Comedy of Geta noticed below, and also occurring in the Cotton MS., is founded on the ancient fable of Jupiter's intrigue with Alcmena. It is in the same style of dialogue with Babio, and has similar marginal directions; such as "Jupiter Alcmenæ; Alcmena Jovi." The line quoted by Warton occurs in what may be called the Prologue. The Cotton MS. affords no clue as to the date of these singular productions. It contains a farrago of rhythmical pieces from the time of Gualo (1160) to_Baston and perhaps later. But in France such pieces appear to have been current during the twelfth century. Du Boulay has noticed a tragedy de Flaura et Marco, and a comedy called Alda, written by William of Blois in the reign of Louis VII. (1137-1180). See Hist. Univ. Par. tom. ii. p. 337.-EDIT.] this performance I will not enquire. It appears at least that he took it from some previous book. I find writte of Babio, Which had a love at his menage, A fresh a free and friendly man, &c. Which Croceus by name hight, &c." In the mean time it seems most probable, that this piece has been attributed to Peter Babyon, on account of the likeness of the name BABIO, especially as he is a ridiculous character. On the whole, there is nothing dramatic in the structure of this nominal comedy; and it has certainly no claim to that title, only as it contains a familiar and comic story carried on with much scurrilous satire intended to raise mirth. But it was not uncommon to call any short poem, not serious or tragic, a comedy. In the Bodleian manuscript, which comprehends Babyon's poem just mentioned, there follows COMEDIA DE GETA: this is in Latin long and short verses, and has no marks of dialogue". In the library of Corpus Christi college at Cambridge, is a piece entitled COMEDIA ad monasterium de Hulme ordinis S. Benedicti Dioces. Norwic. directa ad Reformationem sequentem, cujus data est primo die Septembris sub anno Christi 1477, et a morte Joannis Fastolfe militis eorum benefactoris precipui 17, in cujus monasterii ecclesia humatur. This is nothing more than a satyrical ballad in Latin; yet "Lib. v. f. 109. b. Edit. Berth. 1554. • Carmina composuit, voluitque placere poeta. Pf. 121. to Magdalene College in Oxford. He bequeathed estates to that society, part of which were appropriated to buy live4 In the episcopal palace at Norwich ries for some of the senior scholars. But is a curious piece of old wainscot brought this benefaction,in time, yielding no more from the monastery of Hulme at the time than a penny a week to the scholars who of its dissolution. Among other antique received the liveries, they were called, ornaments are the arms of Sir John Fal- by way of contempt, Falstaff's buckramstaff, their principal benefactor. This magnificent knight was also a benefactor men. T Miscell. M. p. 274. some allegorical personages are introduced, which however are in no respect accommodated to scenical representation. About the reign of Edward the Fourth, one Edward Watson, a scholar in grammar at Oxford, is permitted to proceed to a degree in that faculty, on condition that within two years he would write one hundred verses in praise of the university, and also compose a COMEDY. The nature and subject of Dante's COMEDY, as it is styled, is well known*. The comedies ascribed to Chaucer are probably his Canterbury Tales. We learn from Chaucer's own words, that tragic tales were called TRAGEDIES. In the Prologue to the MONKES Tale— TRAGEDY is to tell a certaine story, As old bokis makin ofte memory, Of hem that stode in grete prosperite, And be fallen out of her high degree, &c. t Some of these, the Monke adds, were written in prose, others in metre. Afterwards follow many tragical narratives: of which he says, TRAGIDIES first wol I tell Of which I have an hundred in my cell. Lidgate further confirms what is here said with regard to comedy as well as tragedy. My maister Chaucer with fresh COMEDIES, Is dead, alas! chief poet of Britaine: The stories in the MIRROR OF MAGISTRATES are called TRA Hist. Antiq. Univ. Oxon. ii. 4. col. 2. [In the dedication of his Paradise to Can della Scala, Dante thus explains his own views of Tragedy and Comedy: "Est comœdia genus quoddam poetica narrationis ab omnibus aliis differens. Differt ergo in materia a tragedia per hoc, quod tragoedia in principio est admirabilis et quieta, in fine sive exitu, fœtida et horribilis......Comœdia vero inchoat asperitatem alicujus rei, sed ejus materiam prospere terminatur.-Similiter differunt in modo loquendi." He has also expatiated upon the distinctive styles pe culiar to such compositions, in his treatise "De vulgari Eloquentia;" though his precepts when opposed to his practice have proved a sad stumbling-block to the critics: "Per Tragoediam superiorem stylum induimus, per Comœdiam inferiorem... Si tragice canenda vicentur, tum adsumendum est vulgare illustre. Si vero comice, tum quandoque mediocre, quandoque humile vulgare sumatur." Lib. ii. c. iv.-EDIT.] t v.85. See also, ibid. v. 103. 786. 875. " Prol. F. Pr. v. i. See also Chaucer's Troil. and Cr. v. 1785. 1787. |