illuftrious perfonages to pofterity; among which the mentions a lady of matchlefs accomplishments, named LA BELL PUCELL, who lives within a tower feated in a delightful island; but which no perfon can enter, without furmounting many dangers. She then informs our hero, that before he engages in this enterprife, he must go to the Tower of DOCTRINE, in which he will fee the. Seven Sciences"; and that there, in the turret, or chamber, of Mufic, he will have the first fight of La Bell Pucell. FAME departs, but leaves with him her two greyhounds. Graunde Amoure now arrives at the Tower, or rather caftle, of DOCTRINE, kingdom, even within the verge of the court. The king of France 'never rode out, on any occafion, without this officer. [See fupr. vol. i. p. 166.] An ingenious French writer infinuates, that the paffion for hunting, which at this day fubfifts as a favourite and fashionable fpecies of diverfion in the moft civilifed countries of Europe, is a ftrong indication of our gothic origin, and is one of the savage habits, yet unreformed, of our northern anceftors. Perhaps there is too much refinement in this remark. The pleafures of the chace feem to have been implanted by nature; and, under due regulation, if purfued as a matter of mere relaxation and not of employment, are by no means incompatible with the modes of polished life. n The author of the TRESOR, a troubadour, gives the following account of his own fyftem of erudition, which may not be inapplicable here. He means to fhew himself a profound and univerfal scholar; and profeffes to understand the feven liberal arts, grammar, the Latin language, logic, the Decreta's of Gratian, mufic according to Boethius and Guy Aretin, arithmetic, geography, aftronomy, the ecclefiaftic computation, medicine, pharmacy, furgery, necromancy, geomancy, magic, divination, and mythology, better than Ovi and Thales le Menteur: the hiftories of Thebes, Troy, Rome, Romulus, Cefar, Pompey, Auguftus, Nero, Vefpafian, Tiis, who took Jerufalem, the Twelve Ce fars down to Conftantine; the hiftory of Greece, and that of Alexander, who dying diftributed his acquifitions among his twelve peers; the hiftory of France, containing the tranfactions of Clovis, converted by faint Remi; Charles Martel, who eftablished tenths; king Pepin, Charlemagne and Roland, and the good king Louis. To these he adds, the HISTORY of ENGLAND, which comprehends the arrival of Brutus in England, and his conqueft of the giant Corineus, the prophefies of Merlin, the redoubted death of Arthur, the adventures of Gawaine, and the amours of Triftram and Bel Ifould. Amidft this profufion of fabulous hiftory, which our author feems to think real, the hiftory of the Bible is introduced; which he traces from the patriarchs down to the day of judgment. At the close of the whole, he gives us fome more of his fashionable accomplishments; and fays, that he is fkilled in the plain chant, in finging to the lute, in making canzonetts, paftorals, amorous and pleafant poefies, and in dancing: that he is beloved by ecclefiaftics, knights, ladies, citizens, minstrels, fquires, &c. The author of this TREASURE, or cyclopede of fcience, mentioned above, is Pierre de Corbian, who lived about the year 1200. Crefcimbeni fays, that this TRESOR furnished materials of a fimilar compilation in Italian verfe to Bennet, Dante's mafter; and of another in French profe. But fee Jul. Niger, Script. Flor. p. 112. framed framed of fine copper, and fituated on a craggy rock: it shone so bright, that he could distinctly difcern the form of the building; till at length, the fky being covered with clouds, he more vifibly perceives its walls decorated with figures of beasts in gold, and its lofty turrets crowned with golden images. He is admitted by COUNTENANCE the portress, who leads him into a court, where he drinks water of a most transcendent fragrance, from a magnificent fountain, whence flow four rivers, clearer than Nilus, Ganges, Tigris, or Euphrates". He next enters the hall framed of jafper, its windows chrystal, and its roof overspread with a golden vine, whofe grapes are represented by rubies: the floor is paved with beryl, and the walls hung with rich tapestry, on which our hero's future expedition to the Tower of La Bell Pucell was gloriously wrought '. The He fays, that the little turrets had, for weathercocks or fans, images of gold, which, moving with the wind, played a tune. So Chaucer, CH. DREAME, V. 75. For everie yate [tower] of fine gold A thoufand fanis, aie turning, Entunid had, and briddes finging Divers, and on eche fane a paire, With opin mouth againe the aire : And of a fute were all the toures:And many a fmall turret hie. Again, in the caftle of PLEASAUNT REGARD, the fans on the high towers are mentioned as a circumftance of pleasure and beauty. ASSEMBL. LAD. v. 160. The towris hie full pleafant fhall ye finde, And our author again, ch. xxxviii. which was now almost at its heighth. See views of the palaces of Nonefuch and Richmond. P The Crufades made the eastern rivers more famous among the Europeans than any of their own. Arnaud Daniel, a troubadour of the thirteenth century, declares, he had rather please his mistress than poffefs all the dominions which are washed by Hebrus, Meander, and Tigris. Hift. Troub. ii. p. 485. The compliment would have been equally exaggerated, if he had alluded to fome of the rivers of his own country. From fir John Maundeville's TRAVELS. "In the hall, is a vine made of gold, that goeth all aboute the hall: "and it hath many branches of grapes, "fome are white, &c. All the red are of "rubies, &c." ch. lxvii. Paulus Silentiarius, in his defcription of the church of S. Sophia at Conftantinople, mentions fuch an ornament. ii. 235. Κλήμας χρυσοκομείς, περιδρομα αμπελώ Palmitibus auricomis circumcurrens vitis In the eleventh book of Boccacio's THESEID, after Arcite is dead, Palamon builds a fuperb temple in honour of him, in marshall of this caftle is REASON, the fewer OBSERVANCE, the cook TEMPERANCE, the high-steward LIBERALITY, &c. He then explains to DOCTRINE his name and intended adventure; and the entertains him at a folemn feaft. He vifits her feven daughters, who refide in the castle. First he is conducted to GRAMMAR, who delivers a learned harangue on the utility of her science: next to LOGIC, who dismisses him with a grave exhortation: then to RHETORIC, who crowned with laurel, and feated in a stately chamber, ftrewed with flowers, and adorned with the clear mirrours of speculation, explains her five parts in a laboured oration. Graunde Amoure refolves to pursue their leffons with vigour; and animates himself, in this difficult task, with the examples of Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate', who are panegy in which his whole history is painted. The defcription of this painting is a recapitulatory abridgement of the preceding part of the poem. Hawes's tapeftry is lefs judiciously placed in the beginning of the piece, because it precludes expectation by foreftalling all the future incidents. • He recites fome of the pieces of the two latter. Chaucer, he fays, wrote the Book The OF FAME on hys own invencion. TRAGEDIES of the xix ladies, a tranflacyon. The CANTERBURY TALES, upon bys ymaginacyon, fome of which are vertuous, others glad and merry. The pytous delour of TROYLUS AND CRESSIDA, and many other bokes. Among Lydgate's works, he recites the LIFE of OUR LADY. SAINT EDMUND'S LIFE. The FALL OF PRINCES. The THREE REASONS. The CHORLE AND THE BIRD. The TROY BOOK. VIRTUE AND VICE, [MSS. Harl. 2251.63. fol. 95.] The TEMPLE OF GLASS. The BOOK OF GODS AND GODDESSES. This laft, I suppose, is The BANKET OF GODS AND GODDESSES. The poem of the CHORLE AND THE BIRD our author calls a pamflete. Lydgate himself fays, that he tranflated this tale from a pamflete in Frenfche, ft 5. It was first printed by Caxton in his CHAUCER. Afterwards by Wynkyn de Worde, before 1500, in quarto. And, I think, by Copland. Afhmole has printed it under the title of HERMES'S BIRD, and fuppofes it to have been written originally by Raymund Lully; or at leaft made English by Cremer, abbot of Westminster, Lully's fcholar. THEATR. CHEM. p. 213. 467 465. Lydgate, in the last stanza, again fpeaks of this piece as a " tranflacyon owte of the Frenfbe." But the fable on which it is founded, is told by Petrus Alphonfus, a writer of the twelfth century, in his tract de Clericali Difciplina, never printed. See fupr. p. 137. Our author, in his recital of Chaucer's pieces, calls the LEGENDE OF GOOD WOMEN tragidyes. Antiently a ferious narrative in verfe was called a tragedy. And it is obfervable, that he mentions xix ladyes belonging to this legend. Only nine ap-' pear at prefent. Nineteen was the number intended, as we may collect from Lydgate's FALL PR. Prol. and ibid. 1. i. c. 6. Compare MAN of L. T. Prol. v. 60. Urr. Where eight more ladies than are in the prefent legende are mentioned. This piece is called the legendis of ix good women, MSS. Fairf. xvi. Chaucer himself says, " I sawe "cominge of ladyes Nineteen in royall ha"bit." v. 383. Urr. Compare Pars. T. Urr. p. 214. col. 1. rifed with great propriety. He is afterwards admitted to ARITHMETIC, who wears a GOLDEN wede': and, last of all, is led to the Tower of MUSIC", which was compofed of crystal, in eager expectation of obtaining a view of La Bell Pucell, according to FAME's prediction. Music was playing on an organ, before a folemn affembly; in the midst of which, at length he discovers La Bell Pucell, is instantly captivated with her beauty, and almost as foon tells her his name, and discloses his paffion". She is more beautiful than Helen, Proferpine, Creffida, queen Hyppolita, Medea, Dido, Polyxena, Alcmena, Menalippa, or even fair Rofamund. The folemnity being finished, Music and La Bell Pucell go forth into a stately temple, whither they are followed by our hero. Here MUSIC feats herself amidst a concert of all kinds of instruments *. She explains the principles of harmony. A The walls of her chamber are painted in gold with the three fundamental rules of arithmetic. "In the TRESOR of Pierre de Corbian, cited at large above, Mufic, according to Boethius and Guy Aretin, is one of the feven liberal fciences. At Oxford, the graduates in mufic, which ftill remains there as an academical fcience, are at this day required to fhew their proficiency in Boethius DE MUSICA. In a pageant, at the coronation of king Edward the fixth, MuSIC perfonified appears among the seven fciences. Leland. Coll. APPEND. iii. 317. edit. 1770. W w In the description of her perfon, which is very elegant, and confifts of three stanzas, there is this circumftance, " She gartered "wel her hofe." ch. xxx. Chaucer has this circumftance in defcribing the Wife of Bath. Prol. v. 458. Hire hofen weren of fine scarlet rede * That is, tabours, trumpets, pipes, fackbuts, organs, recorders, harps, lutes, croudds, tymphans, [1. fymphans] dulcimers, claricimbales, rebeckes, clary chordes. ch. xvi. At the marriage of James of ScotVOL. II. land with the princess Margaret, in the year 1503," the king began before hyr to play "of the clarychordes and after of the lute. "And uppon the faid clarychorde fir Ed"ward Stanley played a ballade and fange "therewith." Again, the king and queen being together, after the played upon the "clarychorde and after of the lute, he be"inge uppon his knee allwaies bare"headed." Leland. Coll. APPEND. iii. p. 284. 285. edit. 1770. In Lydgate's poem, entitled RESON AND SENSUALLITE, compyled by John Lydgate, various inftruments and forts of mufic are recited. MSS. Fairfax. xvi. Bibl. Bodl. [Pr. “To "all folkys virtuous."] "Here reberfyth "the auctor the MYNSTRALCYS that were "in the gardyn." G g dance is plaid', and Graunde Amoure dances with La Bell Pucell. He retires, deeply in love. He is met by CounSELL, who confoles and conducts him to his repose in a ftately chamber of the caftle. In the morning, COUNSELL and our hero both together vifit La Bell Pucell. At the gate of the garden of the caftle they are informed by the portrefs CURTESY, that the lady was fitting alone in an arbour, weaving a garland of various flowers. The garden is described as very delicious, and they find the lady in the arbour near a ftately fountain, among the floures of aromatyke fume. After a long After a long dialogue, in which for fome time she seems to reject his fuit, at last she refigns her heart; but withal acquaints her lover, that he has many monsters to encounter, and many dangers to conquer, before he can obtain her. He replies, that he is well acquainted with thefe difficulties; and declares, that, after having received instructions from ASTRONOMY, he will go to the Tower of CHIVALRY, in order to be more completely qualified to fucceed in this hazardous enterprise. They take leave with tears; and the lady is received into a ship, which is to carry her into the island where her Tower ftood. COUNSELL confoles Amoure, and leaves him to attend other desponding Harpys, fythales, and eke rotys, Well according with her notys, Lutys, ribibles, and geternes, More for eftatys than tavernes ; Orguys, cytolis, monacordys. There were trumpes, and trumpettes, Lowde fhallys, and doucettes. Here geterne, is a guittar, which, with cytolis, has its origin in cithara. Fythales is fiddles. Shallys, I believe, fhould be fhalmies, or harwms. Orguys is organs. See fupr. vol. i. p. 429. and 61. By eftatys he means ftates, or folemn affemblies. y Mufic commands her mynftrelles to play the dance, which was called Mamours the fwete. So at the royal marriage just mentioned, "The mynfirelles begonne to play 66 a baffe dance, &c. After this done, |