תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

gence and accuracy of Mr. Nasmith have furnished me with the following transcript from Lonelich Skynner's translation in Bennet college library.

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Now of al this storie have I mad an ende

That is fchwede of Celidoygne and now forthere to wend
And of anothir brawnche most we be gynne

Of the storye that we clepen prophet Merlynne
Wiche that Maifter ROBERT of BORROWN
Owt of Latyn it tranfletted hol and foun
Onlich into the langage of Frawnce

This ftorie he drowgh be adventure and chaunce
And doth Merlynne inften with SANK RYAL
For the ton ftorie the tothir medlyth withal
After the fatting of the forfeid RORERT
That fomtym it tranfletted in Middilerd
And I as an unkonneng man trewely
Into Englisch have drawen this storye
And thowgh that to zow not plefyng it be
Zit that ful excufed ze wolde haven me

Of my neclegence and unkonnenge

On me to taken swich a thinge

Into owre modris tonge for to endite

The swettere to fowne to more and lyte

And more cler to zoure undirstondyng

Thanne owthir Frenfh other Latyn to my fuppofing
And therfore atte the ende of this storye

A

pater noster ze wolden for me preye

For me that HERRY LONELICH hyhte
And greteth owre lady ful of myhte

Hartelich

Hartelich with an ave that ze hir bede
This proceffe the bettere I myhte procede
And bringen this book to a good ende
Now thereto Jefu Crift grace me fende
And than an ende there offen myhte be
Now good Lord graunt me for charite

Thanne Merlyn to Blafye cam anon
And there to hym he feide thus fon
Blafye thou schalt fuffren gret peyne
This storye to an ende to bringen certeyne
And zit fchall I fuffren mochel more
How fo Merlyn quod Blafye there
I schall be sowht quod Merlyne tho
Owt from the weft with meffengeris mo
And they that scholen comen to feken me
They have maad fewrawnce I telle the
Me forto flen for any thing

This fewrawnce hav they mad to her kyng
But whanne they me fen and with me fpeke
No power they schol hav on me to ben a wreke
For with hem hens mofte I

gon

And thou into othir partyes schalt wel fon
To hem that hav the holy vessel
Which that is icleped the SEYNT GRAAL
And wete thow wel and ek forfothe
That thow and ek this storye bothe
Ful wel beherd now schall it be
And also beloved in many contre

And has that will knowen in fertaygne
What kynges that weren in grete Bretagne
Sithan that Criftendom thedyn was browht
They scholen hem fynde has so that it sawht
In the storye of BRWTTES book

There scholen ze it fynde, and ze weten look
VOL. II.

C

Which

Which that MARTYN DE BEWRE tranflated here
From Latyn into Romaunce in his manere
But leve me now of BRWTTES book
And aftyr this ftorye now lete us look.

After this latter extract, which is to be found nearly in the middle of the manufcript, the scene and perfonages of the poem are changed; and king Enalach, king Mordrens, Sir Nefciens, Jofeph of Arimathea, and the other heroes of the former part, give place to king Arthur, king Brangors, king Loth, and the monarchs and champions of the British line. In a paragraph, very fimilar to the fecond of these extracts, the following note is written in the hand of the text, Henry Lonelich Skynner, that tranflated this boke out of Frenfhe into Englyfbe, at the inftaunce of Harry Barton.

The QUEST OF THE SANGREAL, as it is called, in which devotion and necromancy are equally concerned, makes a confiderable part of king Arthur's romantic history, and was one grand object of the knights of the Round Table. He who achieved this hazardous adventure was to be placed there in the fiege périllous, or feat of danger. When Merlyn had or"dayned the rounde table, he faid, by them that be fellowes "of the rounde table the truthe of the SANGREALL fhall be "well knowne, &c.—They which heard Merlyn say soe, said "thus to Merlyn, fithence there fhall be fuch a knight, thou "shouldest ordayne by thy craft a fiege that no man should "fitte therein, but he onlie which fhall paffe all other knights. " —Then Merlyn made the fiege perillous, &c." Caxton's MORT D'ARTHUR, B. xiv. cap. ii. Sir Lancelot, who is come but of the eighth degree from our lord Jefus Chrift, is represented as the chief adventurer in this honourable expedition. Ibid. B. iii. c. 35. At a celebration of the feaft of Pentecoft at Camelot by king Arthur, the Sangreal fuddenly enters the hall, "but "there was no man might fee it nor who bare it," and the knights, as by fome invifible power, are inftantly supplied with

a feast

a feast of the choiceft dishes. Ibid. c. 35. Originally Le BRUT, LANCELOT, TRISTAN, and the SAINT GREAL were separate histories; but they were fo connected and confounded before the year 1200, that the fame title became applicable to all. The book of the SANGREAL, a feparate work, is referred to in MORTE ARTHUR. "Now after that the quest of the "SANCGREALL was fulfylled, and that all the knyghtes that "were lefte alive were come agayne to the Rounde Table, as "the BOOKE OF THE SANCGREALL makethe mencion, than "was there grete joye in the courte. And especiallie king "Arthur and quene Guenever made grete joye of the remnaunt "that were come home. And paffynge glad was the kinge and quene of fyr Launcelot and fyr Bors, for they had been paffynge longe awaye in the queft of the SANCGREALL. " Then, as the Frenfhe booke sayeth, fyr Lancelot, &c." B.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

1

xviii. cap. I. And again, in the fame romance. " Whan "fyr Bors had tolde him [Arthur] of the adventures of the "SANCGREALL, fuch as had befallen hym and his felawes,— "all this was made in grete bookes, and put in almeryes at "Salisbury." B. xvii. cap. xxiii'. The former part of this paffage is almost literally tranflated from one in the French romance of TRISTAN, Bibl. Reg. MSS. 20 D. ii. fol. antep, Quant Boort ot conte laventure del Saint Graal teles com eles "efloient avenues, eles furent mifes en efcrit, gardees en la"mere de Salibieres, dont Meftre GALTIER MAP l'eftreft a fait "fon livre du Saint Graal por lamor du roy Herri fon fengor, qui

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

fift leftoire tralater del Latin en romanz." Whether Salisbury, or Salibieres is, in the two paffages, the right reading, I cannot ascertain. [But fee Not". p. 117. vol. ii.] But in the royal library at Paris there is "Le Roman de TRISTAN ET ISEUlt, "traduit de Latin en François, par Lucas chevalier du Gast pres de Sarisberi, Anglois, avec figures." Montfauc. CATAL.

The romance fays, that king Arthur "made grete clerkes com before him that "they should cronicle the adventures of

"these goode knygtes." [See fupr. vol. i. p. 336.]

See fupr. vol. ii. p. 235.

C 2

MSS.

lish word.

4

MSS. Cod. Reg. Paris. Cod. 6776. fol. max. And again Cod. 6956. fol. max. “Liveres de TRISTAN mis en François par "Lucas chevalier fieur de chateau du Gat "." [See fupr. vol. i. p. 115. Notes.] Almeryes in the English, and l'Amere, properly aumoire in the French, mean, I believe, Prefes, Chefts, or Archives. Ambry, in this sense, is not an uncommon old EngFrom the second part of the first French quotation which I have distinguished by Italics, it appears, that Walter Mapes, a learned archdeacon in England, under the reign of king Henry the fecond, wrote a French SANGREAL, which he translated from Latin, by the command of that monarch. Under the idea, that Walter Mapes was a writer on this subject, and in the fabulous way, fome critics may be induced to think, that the WALTER, archdeacon of Oxford, from whom Geoffrey of Monmouth profeffes to have received the materials of his history, was this Walter Mapes, and not Walter Calenius, who was also an eminent scholar, and an archdeacon of Oxford. [See vol. i. p. 65.] Geoffrey fays in his Dedication to Robert earl of Gloucester, "Finding nothing said in Bede or Gildas of "king Arthur and his fucceffours, although their actions highly "deserved to be recorded in writing, and are orally celebrated by the British bards, I was much surprised at so strange an "omiffion. At length Walter, archdeacon of Oxford, a man "of great eloquence, and learned in foreign hiftories, offered "me an ancient book in the British or Armorican tongue; "which, in one unbroken ftory, and an elegant diction, re"lated the deeds of the British kings from Brutus to Cadwal"lader. At his request, although unused to rhetorical flou"rishes, and contented with the fimplicity of my own plain "language, I undertook the translation of that book into "Latin." B. i. ch. i. See alfo B. xii. ch. xx. Some writer's suppose, that Geoffrey pretended to have received his materials

[ocr errors]

There is printed, "Le Roman ầu "noble et vaillant Chevalier Triftan fils "du noble roy Meladus de Leonnoys,

par Luce, chevalier, feigneur du chaf"teau de Gaft. Rouen, 1489. fol."

from

« הקודםהמשך »