תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

Ant toggen o the harpe
With is nayles sharpe,

Ant tech him alle the listes

That thou ever wystes,
Byfore me to kerven,

And of my coupe to serven',

Ant his feren devyse

With ous other servise;

Horn child, thou understond,
Tech him of harpe and song."
Athelbrus gon leren
Horn and hyse feren;
Horn mid herte lahte

Al that mon him tahte,
Withinne court and withoute,
And overal aboute,

Lovede men Horn child,
And most him lovede Rymenyld
The kinges oune dohter,
For he wes in hire thohte,

Hue lovede him in hire mod,

For he wes feir and eke god,

In another part of the poem he is table. See a curious account of the

introduced playing on his harp.

Horn sette him abenche, Is harpe he gan clenche, He made Rymenild a lay Ant hue seide weylaway, &c. In the chamber of a bishop of Winchester at Merden castle, now ruined, we find mention made of benches only. Comp. MS. J. Gerveys, Episcop. Winton, 1266. "Iidem red. comp. de ii. mensis in aula ad magnum descum. Et de iii. mensis, ex una parte, et ii. mensis ex altera parte cum tressellis in aula. Et de i. mensa cum tressellis in camera dom. episcopi. Et v. formis in eadem camera. Descus, in old English dees, is properly a canopy over the high

[ocr errors]

r

goods in the palace of the bishop of Nivernois in France, in the year 1287, in Montf. Cat. MSS. ii. p. 984. col. 2. According to the rules of chivalry, every knight before his creation passed through two offices. He was first a page: and at fourteen years of age he was formally admitted an esquire. The esquires were divided into several departments; that of the body, of the chamber, of the stable, and the carving esquire. The latter stood in the hall at dinner, where he carved the different dishes with proper skill and address, and directed the distribution of them among the guests. The inferior offices had also their respective esquires. Mem. Ane. Cheval. i. 16. seq.

And thah hue ne dorste at borde
Mid him speke ner a worde,
Ne in the halle,

Among the knyhtes alle,

Hyre sorewe ant hire pyne
Nolde never fyne,

Bi daye ne bi nyhte

For hue speke ne myhte,

With Horn that wes so feir and fre
Tho hue ne myhte with him be;
In herte hue had care and wo,

And ther hue bithohte hire tho:

Hue sende hyre sonde
Athelbrus to honde,

That he come hire to,
And also shulde Horn do,

In to hire boure,

For hue bigon to loure,
And the sondes sayde,
That seek wes the mayde,
And bed hym come suythe
For hue nis nout blythe.

The stiward was in huerte wo,
For he nuste whet he shulde do,
What Rymenyld bysohte

Gret wonder him thohte;
About Horn the yinge
To boure forté bringe,
He thohte on is mode
Hit nes for none gode;
He tok with him another,
Athulf Horne's brother',

"Athulf," quoth he, "ryht anon
Thou shalt with me to boure gon,

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[ocr errors]

To speke with Rymenyld stille,
To wyte hyre wille,

Thou art Horne's yliche,

Thou shalt hire bysuyke,
Sore me adrede

That hue wole Horn mysrede."
Athelbrus and Athulf bo

To hire boure beth ygo,
Upon Athulf childe

Rymenild con waxe wilde,
Hue wende Horn it were,
That hue hade there;
Hue seten adoun stille,

Ant seyden hure wille,
In hire armes tueye
Athulf she con leye.

"Horn," quoth heo, "wellonge

Y have loved thee stronge,
Thou shalt thy treuth plyhte

In myn

hond with ryhte,

Me to spouse welde

And ich the loverd to helde."

So stille so hit were,

Athulf seyde in hire eere,

"Ne tel thou no more speche

May y the byseche

Thi tale gyn thou lynne,

For Horn nis nout her ynne," &c.

At length the princess finds she has been deceived, the steward is severely reprimanded, and prince Horne is brought to her chamber; when, says the poet,

Of ys fayre syhte

Al that boure gan lyhte".

" MSS. ibid. f. 83. Where the title is written, "þe zeste of kynge Horne."

There is a copy, much altered and modernised, in the Advocates library at

It is the force of the story in these pieces that chiefly engages our attention. The minstrels had no idea of conducting and describing a delicate situation. The general manners were gross, and the arts of writing unknown. Yet this simplicity sometimes pleases more than the most artificial touches. In the mean time, the pictures of antient manners presented by these early writers, strongly interest the imagination: especially as having the same uncommon merit with the pictures of manners in Homer, that of being founded in truth and reality, and actually painted from the life. To talk of the grossness and absurdity of such manners is little to the purpose; the poet is only concerned in the justness and faithfulness of the representation.

Edinburgh, W. 4. i. Numb. xxxiv. [and in Ritson's Romances, vol. 3.] The title Horn-childe and Maiden Rimnild. The beginning,

Mi leve frende dere, Herken and ye shall here. [The text of this romance has been taken from Mr. Ritson's edition; whose accuracy, by the way, though unimpeachable in the specimens quoted above, is not equally conspicuous throughout the poem. In fact, he seems neither to have been master of the language nor the subject. His glossary will afford sufficient evidence of the former assertion-te which much might be added from his omissions and misprints—and his notes will amply bear out the latter. The bishop of Dromore considered this production "of genuine English growth;" and though his lordship may have been mistaken in ascribing it, in its present form, to so early an æra as "within a century after the Conquest;' yet the editor has no hesitation in expressing his belief, that it owes its origin to a period long anterior to that event. The reasons for such an opinion cannot be entered upon here. They are too detailed to fall within the compass of a note; and though some of them will be introduced elsewhere, yet many perhaps are the result of convictions more easily felt than expressed, and whose shades of

evidence are too slight to be generally received, except in the rear of more obvious authority. However, to those who with Mr. Ritson persist in believing the French fragment of this romance, to be an earlier composition than "The Geste of Kyng Horn," the following passage is submitted, for the purpose of contrasting its highly wrought imagery with the simple narrative, and natural allusion, observed throughout the English poem:

Lors print la harpe a sei si commence a temprer

Deu ki dunc lesgardast, cum il la sot manier!

Cum les cordes tuchot, cum les feseit

[blocks in formation]

SECTION II.

[ocr errors]

HITHERTO we have been engaged in examining the state of our poetry from the Conquest to the year 1200, or rather afterwards. It will appear to have made no very rapid improvement from that period. Yet as we proceed, we shall find the language losing much of its antient barbarism and obscurity, and approaching more nearly to the dialect of modern times.

In the latter end of the reign of Henry the Third, a poem occurs, the date of which may be determined with some degree of certainty. It is a satirical song, or ballad, written by one of the adherents of Simon de Montfort earl of Leicester, a powerful baron, soon after the battle of Lewes, which was fought in the year 1264, and proved very fatal to the interests of the king. In this decisive action, Richard king of the Romans, his brother Henry the Third, and prince Edward, with many others of the royal party, were taken prisoners.

I.

Sitteth alle stille, ant herkneth to me:
The kyn of Alemaigne, bi mi leaute",
Thritti thousent pound askede he
Forte make the pees in the countre,
And so he dude more.

Richard, thahe thou be ever trichard',
Tricthen shall thou never more.

II.

Richard of Alemaigne, whil that he was kyng,

He spende al is tresour opon swyvyng,

The king of the Romans. bloyalty.

c

peace.

The barons made this offer of thirty thousand pounds to Richard.

though.

f treacherous.

« הקודםהמשך »