ward's consort, accompanied with three hundred ladies of noble families. The tournaments of this stately reign were constantly crowded with ladies of the first distinction; who sometimes attended them on horseback, armed with daggers, and dressed in a succinct soldier-like habit or uniform prepared for the purpose". In a tournament exhibited at London, sixty ladies on palfries appeared, each leading a knight with a gold chain. In this manner they paraded from the Tower to Smithfield. Even Philippa, a queen of singular elegance of manners, partook so much of the heroic spirit which was universally diffused, that just before an engagement with the king of Scotland, she rode round the ranks of the English army encouraging the soldiers, and was with some difficulty persuaded or compelled to relinquish the field'. The countess of Montfort is another eminent instance of female heroism in this age. When the strong town of Hennebond, near Rennes, was besieged by the French, this redoubted amazon rode in complete armour from street to street, on a large courser, animating the garrison. Finding from a high tower that the whole French They soon afterwards regularly received robes, with the knights companions, for this ceremony, powdered with garters. Ashmol. Ord. Gart. 217. 594. And Anstis, ii. 123. Knyghton, Dec. Script. p. 2597. i Froissart apud Stowe's Surv. Lond. p. 718. edit. 1616. At an earlier period, the growing gallantry of the times appears in a public instrument. It is in the reign of Edward the First. Twelve jurymen depose upon oath the state of the king's lordship at Woodstock: and among other things it is solemnly recited, that Henry the Second often resided at Woodstock, "pro amore cujusdam mulieris nomine Rosamunda.' Hearne's Avesbury, Append. p. 331. * And of distinguished beauty. Hearne says, that the statuaries of those days used to make queen Philippa a model for their images of the Virgin Mary. Gloss. Rob. Brun. p. 349. He adds, that the holy virgin, in a representation of her assumption was constantly figured young and beautiful; and that the artists before the Reformation generally "had the most beautiful women of the greatest quality in their view, when they made statues and figures of her." ibid. p. 550. 1 Froissart, i. c. 138. m Froissart says, that when the English proved victorious, the countess came out of the castle, and in the street kissed Sir Walter Manny the English general, and his captains, one after another, twice or thrice, comme noble et valliant dame. On another like occasion, the same historian relates, that she went out to meet the officers, whom she kissed and sumptuously entertained in her castle. i. c. 86. At many magnificent tournaments in France, the ladies determined the prize. See Mem. anc. Cheval. i. p. 175. seq. p. 223. seq. An English squire, on the side of the French, captain of the castle. of Beaufort, called himself le Poursuivant d'amour, in 1369. Froissart, l. i. c. 64. In the midst of grand engagements between the French and English armies, when perhaps the interests of both nations are vitally concerned, Froissart army was engaged in the assault, she issued, thus completely accoutred, through a convenient postern at the head of three hundred chosen soldiers, and set fire to the French camp". In the mean time riches and plenty, the effects of conquest, peace, and prosperity, were spread on every side; and new luxuries were imported in great abundance from the conquered countries. There were few families, even of a moderate condition, but had in their possession precious articles of dress or furniture; such as silks, fur, tapestry, embroidered beds, cups of gold, silver, porcelain, and crystal, bracelets, chains, and necklaces, brought from Caen, Calais, and other opulent foreign cities. The increase of rich furniture appears in a foregoing reign. In an act of Parliament of Edward the First, are many regulations, directed to goldsmiths, not only in London, but in other towns, concerning the sterling allay of vessels and jewels of gold and silver, &c. And it is said, "Gravers or cutters of stones and seals shall give every one their just weight of silver and gold." It should be remembered, that about this period Europe had opened a new commercial intercourse with the ports of India. No less than eight sumptuary laws, which had the usual effect of not being observed, were enacted in one session of parliament during this reign'. Amid these growing elegancies and superfluities, foreign manners, especially of the French, were perpetually increasing; and the native simplicity of the English people was perceptibly corrupted and effaced. It is not quite uncertain that masques had their beginning in this reigns. These shews, in which the greatest personages of the court often bore a part, and which arrived at their height in the reign of Henry the Eighth, encouraged the arts of address and decorum, and are symptoms of the rise of polished manners'. In a reign like this, we shall not be surprised to find such a poet as Chaucer: with whom a new era in English poetry begins, and on whose account many of these circumstances are mentioned, as they serve to prepare the reader for his character, on which they throw no inconsiderable light. But before we enter on so ample a field, it will be perhaps less embarrassing, at least more consistent with our prescribed method, if we previously display the merits of two or three poets, who appeared in the former part of the reign of Edward the Third, with other incidental matters. The first of these is Richard Hampole, an eremite of the order of saint Augustine. He was a doctor of divinity, and lived a solitary life near the nuns of Hampole, four miles from Doncaster in Yorkshire. The neighbourhood of this female society could not withdraw our recluse from his devotions and his studies. He flourished in the year 1349". His Latin theological tracts, both in prose and verse, are numerous; in which Leland justly thinks he has displayed more erudition than eloquence. His principal pieces of English rhyme are a Paraphrase of part of the Book of Job, of the Lord's Prayer, of the seven penitential Psalms, and the PRICKE OF CONSCIENCE. But our hermit's poetry, which indeed from these titles promises but little entertainment, has no tincture of sentiment, imagination, or elegance. The following verses are extracted from the PRICKE OF CONSCIENCE, one of the most common manuscripts in our libraries, and I prophesy that I am its last transcriber. But I must observe first, that this piece is divided into seven parts. I. Of man's nature. II. Of the world. III. Of death. IV. Of purgatory. V. Of the day of judg This spirit of splendor and gallantry was continued in the reign of his successor. See the genius of that reign admirably characterized, and by the hand of a master, in bishop Lowth's LIFE OF WYKEHAM, p. 222. See also Hollingsh. ment. VI. Of the torments of hell. VII. Of the joys of heaven ". Monkynde [mad] to [do] godus wille, All that he made for man hit was done, God to monkynde had gret love, To be most worthy creature, He yef hym wit skile and mynde, And als he yaf him & fre wille, 2 Fforto chese and forto holde, Good or yvel whedur he wolde; And yif he be to god buxome, " STIMULUS CONSCIENTLE thys boke ys Conscience" (no. 348) agrees so closely namyd. MS. Ashmol. fol. No. 41. There both in matter and orthography with that is much transposition in this copy. In contained in the Ashmole library, that MS. Digb. Bibl. Bodl. 87. it is called little doubt can be entertained but one THE KEY OF KNOWING. Princ. has been copied from the other. The few variations noticed in the text have arisen most probably from inattention in the transcriber.-EDIT.] The migt of the fader almiti The wisdom of the sone al witti. [The Lansdowne MS. of the "Pricke of God made to his owne likenes, That mon therfore holde [I]* for wood, Of all creatures most fre, And namely to his owne liknes, And most hath gyven and yit gyveth, Than to any creature that lyveth; Hevene blis yif he wel do. And yit when he had don amys, God tok monkynde for his sake, PRIMA PARS DE MISERIA HUMANE CONDITIONIS. Thus gret love God to man kidde, And mony goode dedus to hym didde. Schulde thynke on love that he hem schewed, And these gode dedus holde in mynde, That he thus dide to monkynde; And love and thanke hym as he con, And ellus he is unkynde mon, |