d Baronage.

e Death.

Thus thai made the maryage
Amang al the riche barnage:

Thai made ful mekyl mirth that day,
Ful grete feftes on gude aray;
Grete mirthes made thai in that stede,
And al forgetyn es now the dede
Of him that was thair lord fre;

Thai fay that this es worth fwilk thre.
And that thai lufed him mekil more
Than him that lord was thare byfore.
The bridal' fat, for foth to tell,
Till king Arthur come to the well

f Bridal is Saxon for the nuptial feast. So in Davie's GESTE OF ALEXANDER, MS. fol. 41. penes me.

He wift nouzt of this BRIDALE,
Ne no man tolde him the tale.

In GAMELYN, or the COKE's. Tale, v.
1267.

At every BRIDALE he would fing and hop.
Spenfer, FAERIE QU. B. v. C. ii. ft. 3.
-Where and when the BRIDALE cheare
Should be folemnifed.·

And, vi. x. 13.

Thefeus her unto his BRIDALE bore.
See alfo Spenfer's PROTHALAMION.
The word has been applied adjectively, for
CONNUBIAL. Perhaps Milton remember-
ed or retained its original ufe in the fol-
lowing paffage of SAMSON AGONISTES,
ver. 1196.

And in your city held my nuptial feaft:
But your ill-meaning politician lords,
Under pretence of BRIDAL friends and
guests,

Appointed to await me thirty fpies.
"Under pretence of friends and guests
"invited to the BRIDAL." But in PARA-
DISE LOST, he speaks of the evening star

haftening to light the BRIDAL LAMP,
which in another part of the same poem
he calls the NUPTIAL TORCH. viii. 520.
xi. 590. I prefume this Saxon BRIDALE
is Bride-Ale, the FEAST in honour of
the bride or marriage. ALE, fimply put,
is the feaft or the merry-making, as in
PIERCE PLOWMAN, fol. xxxii. b. edit.
1550. 4to.

And then fatten fome and fonge at the
ALE [nale.]

Again, fol. xxvi. b.

I am occupied everie daye, holye daye and other,

With idle tales at the ALE, and otherwhile in churches.

So Chaucer of his FREERE, Urr. p. 87. v. 85.

And they were only glad to fill his purse, And maden him grete feftis at the NALE. Nale is ALE." They feafted him, or en"tertained him, with particular respect, "at the parish-feaft, &c." Again, PLowMAN'S TALE, p. 125, v. 2110.

At the Wrefiling, and at the Wake,

And the chief chaunters at the NALE. See more inftances fupr. vol. i. 60. That ALE is feftival, appears from its fenfe in compofition; as, among others, in the words Leet-ale, Lamb-ale, Whitfon-ale, Clerk

ale,

With al his knyghtes ever ilkane,
Byhind leved thar noght ane ".
The king keft water on the ftane,
The ftorme rafe ful fone onane
With wikked weders, kene and calde,
Als it was byfore hand talde.

ale, and Church-ale. LEET-ALE, in fome
parts of England, fignifies the Dinner at a
court-leet of a manor for the jury and cuf-
tomary tenants. LAMB-ALE is ftill ufed
at the village of Kirtlington in Oxfordshire,
for an annual feaft or celebrity at lamb-
fhearing. WHITSON-ALE, is the common
name in the midland counties, for the ru-
ral sports and feafting at Whitfontide.
CLERK-ALE Occurs in Aubrey's manu-
fcript History of WILTSHIRE. "In the
"Eafter holidays was the CLARKES-ALE,
"for his private benefit and the folace of
"the neighbourhood." MSS. Muf. ASHм.
Oxon. CHURCH-ALE, was a feaft efta-
blished for the repair of the church, or in
honour of the church-faint, &c. In Dodf-
worth's Manufcripts, there is an old in-
denture, made before the Reformation,
which not only fhews the defign of the
Church-ale, but explains this particular
ufe and application of the word Ale. The
parishioners of Elvefton and Okebrook,
in Derbyshire, agree jointly, "to brew
"four ALES, and every ALE of one quar-
"ter of malt, betwixt this and the feast of
"faint John Baptift next coming. And
"that every inhabitant of the faid town
"of Okebrook fhall be at the feveral
"ALES. And every husband and his wife
"fhall pay two pence, every cottager one
66 penny, and all the inhabitants of El.
"veston shall have and receive all the pro-
"fits and advantages coming of the faid
"ALES, to the ufe and behoof of the faid
"church of Elvefton. And the inhabi-
"tants of Elveston fhall brew eight ALES
"betwixt this and the feaft of faint John
"Baptift, at the which ALES the inhabi-
"tants of Okebrook fhall come and pay

as before reherfed. And if he be away at one ALE, to pay at the toder ALE "for both, &c." MSS. Bibl. Bodl. vol.

148. f. 97. See alfo our CHURCH-CANONS, given in 1603. CAN. 88. The application of what is here collected to the word BRIDALE, is obvious. But Mr. Aftle has a curious record, about 1575, which proves the BRIDE-ALE fynonimous with the WEDDYN ALE. During the courfe of queen Elifabeth's entertainments at Kenilworthcastle, in 1575, a BRYDE-ALE was celebrated with a great variety of fhews and fports. Laneham's LETTER, dated the fame year. fol. xxvi. feq. What was the nature of the merriment of the CHURCHALE, we learn from the WITCHES-SONG in Joufon's MASQUE OF QUEENS at Whitehall in 1609, where one of the Witches boafts to have killed and ftole the fat of an infant, begotten by a piper at a CHURCH-ALE. S. 6.

Among bishop Tanner's manufcript additions to Cowell's Law-Gloffary in the Bodleian library, is the following Note, from his own Collections. [Lit. V.J"A.D. "1468. Prior Cant. et Commiffarii vifita"tionem fecerunt (diocefi Cant. vacante "per mortem archiepifcopi) et ibi publi "catum erat, quod Potationes factæ in ec"clefiis, vulgariter dicte YEVEALYS, "vel BREDEALYS, non effent ulterius in "ufu fub pæna excommunicationis majo"ris."

Had the learned author of the Differtation on BARLEY WINE been as well acquainted with the British as the Grecian literature, this long note would perhaps have been unneceffary. * One.

h Wicked is here, accurfed. In which fenfe it is ufed by Shakespeare's Caliban, TEMP. Act i. Sc. ii.

As WICKED dew as e'er my mother brush'd
With raven's feather, &c.

The king and his men ilkane
Wend tharwith to have bene flane,
So blew it store with flete and rayne:
And haftily gan fyr Ywayne *,
Dight him graythly' in his gere,
With nobil fhelde, and ftrong fpere:
When he was dight in feker wede,
Than he umstrade" a nobil stede :
Him thoght that he was als lyght
Als a fowl es to the flyght.
Unto the Well faft wendes he,
And fone when thai myght him se,
Syr Kay, for he wald noght fayle,
Smertly afkes the batayle.
And alfone than faid the kyng,

Sir Kay, I grante thine afkyng.

Sir Ywaine is victorious, who discovers himself to king Arthur after the battle.

Strong.

And fone fir Ywayne gan him tell

Of al his fare how it byfell,

With the knight how that he fped,
And how he had the Lady wed;

And how the Mayden him helped well:
Thus talde he to hym ilka dele.
Syr kyng, he fayd, I zow byfeke,

And al zowr menze milde and meke,
That ze wald grante to me that grace,
At" wend with me to my purchase,

And se my Kastle and my Towre,
Than myght ze do me grete honowre.

* To defend the fountain, the office of the lord of this castle.

1 Readily.
m Beitrode.
■ To.

Το

The kyng granted him ful right
To dwel with him a fouretenyght.
Sir Y wayne thanked him oft fith",
The knyghtes war al glad and blyth,
With fir Ywayne for to wend :
And fone a squier has he fend
Unto the kaftel, the way he nome,
And warned the Lady of thair come,
And that his Lord come with the kyng.
And when the Lady herd this thing,
It es no lifand man with mowth
That half hir cumforth tel kowth.
Haftily that Lady hende

Cumand al her men to wende,
And dight tham in thair best aray,
To kepe the king that ilk day:
Thai keped him in riche wede
Rydeand on many a nobil stede;
Thai hailsed him ful curtayfly,
And alfo al his cumpany:

Thai faid he was worthy to dowt,
That fo fele folk led obowt':

Thar was grete joy, I zow bihete',

Cled in purpure and ermyne,

With girdels al of golde ful fyne.
The Lady made ful meri chere,

Sho was al dight with drewries * dere;
Abowt hir was ful mekyl thrang,
The puple cried and fayd omang,
Welcum ertou, kyng Arthoure,

Of al this werld thou beres the floure!
Lord kyng of all kynges,

And bliffed be he that the brynges!
When the Lady the Kyng faw,
Unto him faft gan fho draw,

To hald his fterap whils he lyght;
Bot fone when he of hir had syght,
With mekyl mirth thai famen met,
With hende wordes fho him gret;
A thousand fithes welkum fho fays,
And fo es fyr Gawayne the curtayse.
The king faid, Lady white fo flowr,
God gif ye joy and mekyl honowr,
For thou ert fayr with body gent:
With that he hir in armes hent,
And ful fayre he gan her falde ",
Thar was many to bihalde:
Et es no man with tong may tell
The mirth that was tham omell;
Of maidens was thar fo gude wane,
That ilka knight myght take ane.

The king stays here eight days, entertained with various sports.

And ilk day thai had folace fere
Of huntyng, and als of revere:

"Gallantries. Jewels. Davie fays, that in one of Alexander's battles, many a lady loft her drewery. GESTE ALEXANDER,

MS. p. 86. Athens is called the Drywerg of the world. ibid.

w Fold. * Affembly.

▾ Together.
Hawking. River.

For