king had in the decline of life vowed an expedition to the Holy Land; but finding his end approach, he dedicated the sum of 32,000l. to the maintenance of a large body of knights (one hundred and forty say historians, eighty says our poet), who were to carry his heart with them into Palestine. This dying command of the king was never performed. Our poet, with the honest prejudices of an Englishman, attributes this failure to the advice of the King of France, whose daughter Isabel, the young monarch who succeeded immediately married. But the truth is, Edward and his destructive favourite Piers Gaveston spent the money upon their pleasures.To do the greater honour to the memory of his hero, our poet puts his eloge in the mouth of the Pope, with the same poetic licence, as a more modern bard would have introduced Britannia, or the Genius of Europe, pouring forth his praises.

This antique elegy is extracted from the same MS. volume as the preceding article; is found with the same peculiarities of writing and orthography; and, though written at near the distance of half a century, contains little or no variation of idiom: whereas the next following poem by Chaucer, which was probably written not more than fifty or sixty years after this, exhibits almost a new language. This seems to countenance the opinion of some antiquaries, that this great poet made considerable innovations in his mother tongue, and introduced many terms, and new modes of speech from other languages.

ALLE, that beoth of huerte trewe,

A stounde herkneth to my song

Of duel, that Deth hath diht us newe,

Kyng of Fraunce, thou hevedest 'sinne,'
That thou the counsail woldest fonde,
To latte the wille of Edward kyng'
To wende to the holy londe :
That oure kyng hede take on honde
All Engelond to zeme ant wysse,
To wenden in to the holy londe
To wynnen us heveriche blisse.
The messager to the pope com,
And seyde that our kynge was ded:
Ys oune hond the lettre he nom,
Ywis his herte was full gret:
The Pope him self the lettre redde,
Ant spec a word of gret honour.
Alas! he seid, is Edward ded!
Of Christendome he ber the flour."
The Pope to is chaumbre wende,
For dol ne mihte,he speke na more;
Ant after cardinals he sende,

That muche couthen of Cristes lore, Bothe the lasse, ant eke the more,

Bed hem bothe rede ant synge : Gret deol me myhte se thore,

Mony mon is honde wrynge.

The Pope of Peyters stod at is masse
With ful gret solempnetè,

Ther me con the soule blesse:

65

That maketh me syke, ant sorewe among;

Jerusalem, thou hast i-lore

The flour of al chivalrie

Of a knyht, that wes so strong,

5

Of wham God hath don ys wille;

Now kyng Edward liveth na more:

Me-thuncheth that deth hath don us wrong, That he so sone shall ligge stille.

Alas! that he zet shulde deye!

He wolde ha rered up full heyze

Oure banners, that brueth broht to grounde;

That hit be write at my devys,

Over the see that Hue* be diht,

With fourscore knyhtes al of prys, In werre that buen war ant wys,

Here follow in the original three lines more,

which, as seemingly redundant, we chuse to throw to the bottom of the page, viz.

That lasteth ay withouten ende,

Bidde we God ant oure Ledy to thilke blisse Jesus us sende. Amen.

Ver. 33, sunne, MS. Ver. 35, Kyng Edward, MS. Ver. 43, ys is probably a contraction of in hys or yn his. Ver 55, 59, Me, i. e. Men; so in Robert of Gloucester passiin.

THIS little sonnet, which hath escaped all the editors of Chaucer's works, is now printed for the first time from an ancient MS. in the Pepysian library, that contains many other poems of its venerable author. The versification is of that species, which the French call Rondeau, very naturally Englished by our honest countrymen Round O. Though so early adopted by them, our ancestors had not the honour of inventing it: Chaucer picked it up, along with other better things, among the neighbouring nations. A fondness for laborious trifles hath always prevailed in the dark ages of literature. The Greek poets have had their wings and axes: the great father of English poesy may therefore be pardoned one poor solitary rondeau.-Geofrey Chaucer died Oct. 25, 1400, aged 72.

I. 1.

YOURE two eyn will sle me sodenly,

I may the beaute of them not sustene, So wendeth it thorowout my herte kene

2.

And but your words will helen hastely My hertis wound, while that it is grene, Youre two eyn will sle me sodenly.

3.

Upon my trouth I sey yow feithfully,
That ye ben of my life and deth the quene,
For with my deth the trouth shal be sene.
Youre two e

II. 1.

So hath youre beauty fro your herte chased
Pitee, that me n' availeth not to pleyn;
For daunger halt your mercy in his cheynə.

2.

Giltless my deth thus have ye purchased;
I sey yow soth, me nedeth not to fayn:
So hath your beaute fro your herte chased.

3.

Alas, that nature hath in yow compassed So grete beaute, that no man may atteyn To mercy, though he sterve for the peyn. So hath youre beaute, &c.

III. 1.

Syn I fro love escaped am so fat

I nere thinke to ben in his prison ene⚫ Syn I am fre, I counte him not a bene.

2.

He may answere, and sey this and that, I do no fors, I speak ryght as I mene; Syn I fro love escaped am so fat.

3

Love hath my name i-strike out of his sclat,
And he is strike out of my bokes clene:
For ever mother*' is non other mene.
Syn I fro love escaped, &c.

It does honour to the good sense of this nation, that while all Europe was captivated with the bewitching charms of Chivalry and Romance, two of our writers in the rudest times could see through the false glare that surrounded them, and discover whatever was absurd in them both. Chaucer wrote his Rhyme of Sir Thopas in ridicule of the latter; and in the following poem we have a humorous burlesque of the former. Without pretending to decide whether the institution of chivalry was upon the whole useful or pernicious in the rude ages, a question that has lately employed many good writers*, it evidently encouraged a vindictive spirit, and gave such force to the custom of duelling, that there is little hope of its being abolished. This, together with the fatal consequences which often attended the diversion of the Turnament, was sufficient to render it obnoxious to the graver part of mankind. Accordingly the church early denounced its censures

See [Mr. Hurd's] Letters on Chivalry, 8vo. 1752. Memoirs de la Chevalerie, par M. de la Curne des Palais, 1759, 2 tom. 12o. &c.

against it, and the state was often prevailed on to attempt its suppression. But fashion and opinion. are superior to authority: and the proclamations against tilting were as little regarded in those times, as the laws against duelling are in these. This did not escape the discernment of our poet, who easily perceived that inveterate opinions must be attacked by other weapons, besides proclamations and censures; he accordingly made use of the keen one of Ridicule. With this view he has here introduced with admirable humour a parcel of clowns, imitating all the solemnities of the Tourney. Here we have the regular challenge-the appointed day-the lady for the prize the formal preparations-the display of armour-the scucheons and devices-the oaths taken on entering the lists-the various accidents of the encounter-the victor leading off the prize-and the magnificent feasting-with all the other solemn fopperies that usually attended the pompous Turnament. And how acutely the sharpness of the author's humour must have been felt in those days,

• This, MS.

we may learn from what we can perceive of its keenness now, when time has so much blunted the edge of his ridicule.

The Turnament of Tottenham was first printed from an ancient MS in 1631, 4to, by the Rev. Whilhem Bedwell, rector of Tottenham, who was one of the translators of the Bible, and afterwards Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland, where he lived and died with the highest reputation of sanctity, in 1611 He tells us, it was written by Gilbert Pilkington, thought to have been some time parson of the same parish, and author of another piece, intitled Passio Domini Jesu Christi. Bedwell, who was eminently skilled in the oriental and other languages, appears to have been but little conversant with the ancient writers in his own; and he so little entered into the spirit of the poem he was publishing, that he contends for its being a serious narrative of a real event, and thinks it must have been written before the time of Edward III, because Turnaments were prohibited in that reign. "I do verily believe," says he, "that this Turnament was acted before this proclamation of King Edward. For how durst any to attempt to do that, although in sport, which was so straightly forbidden, both by the civil and ecclesiasticall power? For although they fought not with lances, yet, as our author sayth, 'It was no childrens game.' And what would have become of him, thinke you, which should have slayne another in this manner of jeasting? Would he not, trow you, have been hang'd for it in earnest? yea, and have bene buried like a dogge?" It is, however, well known that Turnaments were in use down to the reign of Elizabeth.

In the first editions of this work, Bedwell's copy was reprinted here, with some few conjectural emendations; but as Bedwell seemed to have reduced the orthography at least, if not the phraseology, to the standard of his own time, it was with great pleasure that the Editor was informed of an ancient MS. copy preserved in the Museum [Harl. MSS. 5396.] which appeared to have been transcribed in the reign of King Hen. VI. about 1456. This obliging information the Editor owed to the friendship of Thomas Tyrwhit, Esq., and he has chiefly followed that more authentic transcript, improved however by some readings from Bedwell's Book.

Or all thes kene conquerours to carpe it were kynde; Of fele feyztyng folk ferly we fynde,

The Turnament of Totenham have we in mynde;

It were harme sych hardynes were holden byhynde,

In story as we rede

5

Ther hopped Hawkyn,

15

Ther daunsed Dawkyn,

Ther trumped Tomkyn,

And all were trewe drynkers.

Ver. 20, It is not very clear in the MS. whether it should be cont or conters. Ver. 48, dozty, MS. V. 49, coppled. We still use the phrase, "a copple-crowned hen." Ver. 57, gayed, PC. Ver. 66, is wanting in MS. and snp. pelld from PC. Ver. 72, He borrowed him, PC. V. 75, The MS. had once sedys, i.e. seeds, which appears to have been altered to fedyrs, or feathers Batwoll' opy na Senvy, i. c. Mustard-seed.

Ver. 77, And led hur to cap, MS. V. 83, Bedwell's PC. has, Ruel-Bones.' V. 84, safer stones, MS. V. 85, wrotyn, i. e. wrought, PC. reads, written. V. 86, No catel [perhaps chatel) they had spared, MS. V. 89. Then... faucon, MS. V. 101, gran, MS. V. 109, yf he have, MS. V. 110, the MS. literally has thr. sand here V. 128 merth, MS.

Ther were flayles al to slatred, Ther were scheldys al to flatred, Bollys and dysches al to schatred, And many hedys brokyn.

160

There was clynkyng of cart-sade lys, and clatteryng

of cannes;

Of fele frekys in the feld brokyn were their fannes; Of sum were the hedys brokyn, of sum the brayn

pannes,

And yll were thay besene, or thay went thanns, 166
Wyth swyppyng of swepyls:

Thay were so wery for-foght,
Thay myzt not fyzt mare oloft,
But creped about in the croft,'
As thay were croked crepyls.

Perkyn was so wery, that he began to loute;
Help, Hud, I am ded in thys ylk rowte:
An hors for forty pens, a gode and a stoute!
That I may lyztly come of my noye oute,
For no cost wyl I spare.

He styrt up as a snale,

And heat a capul be the tayle,
And 'reft' Dawkin hys flayle,
And wan there a mare.

170

180

Perkyn wan five, and Hud wan twa:
Glad and blythe thay ware, that they had don sa ;
Thay wold have tham to Tyb, and present hur with

tha:

The Capulls were so wery, that thay myzt not ga,

Ver. 137, swyselior, MS. V. 146, flailes, and harnisse, PC. V. 151, The Chiefe, PC. V. 154, yt ys, MS. V. 168, The boyes were. MS. V. 170, creped then about in the cros MS. V. 179, razt, MS.

THAT Our plain and martial ancestors could wield their swords much better than their pens, will appear from the following homely rhymes, which were drawn up by some poet laureat of those days to celebrate the immortal victory gained at Agincourt, Oct. 25, 1415. This song or hymn is given merely as a curiosity, and is printed from a MS copy in the Pepys collection, vol. I. folio.

Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria!
OWRE kynge went forth to Normandy,
With grace and myzt of chivalry;
The God for hym wrouzt marvelously,
Wherefore Englonde may calle, and cry
Deo gratias:

Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria.

He sette a sege, the sothe for to say,
To Harflue toune with ryal aray;
That toune he wan, and made a fray,
That Fraunce shall rywe tyl domes day.
Deo gratias: &c.

Then went owre kynge, with alle his oste,
Thorowe Fraunce for all the Frenshe boste ;
He spared 'for' drede of leste, ne most,
Tyl he come to Agincourt coste.
Deo gratias, &c.

5

10

15

Ver. 185, stand, MS. V. 189, sand, MS. V. 199, Thys MS. V. 204, hom for to fetch, MS. V. 208, about everych #ide, MS. V. 209, the gre, is wanting in MS. V. 210, mothe, MS

Ver. 212, And thay ifere assent, MS. V. 214, had wed, MS. V. 215, The cheefemen, PC. V. 218, trippand on, MS.

In the former impressions, this concluding stanza was only given from Bedwell's printed edition; but it is here copied from the old MS. wherein it has been since found separated from the rest of the poem, by several pages of a money-account, and other heterogeneous matter. + Six-men's song, i. c. a song for six voices. So Shakespeare uses Three-man song-men, in his Winter's Tale, A. III. sc. 3, to denote men that could sing catches composed for three voices. Of this sort are Weelkes's Madrigals mentioned below, Book II. Song 9. So again Shakespeare has Three-man Beetle; i. c. a Beetle or Rammer worked by three men. 2 Hen. IV. A. I. Sc. 3.