of a bad age." Hawes was a native of Suffolk, but the dates of his birth and death are not known. He studied in the University of Oxford and afterwards travelled much, becoming "a complete master of the French and Italian poetry."] LOKED about and saw a craggy roche, And as I dyd then unto it approche, The royal tower of MORALL DOCUMENT, That for the very perfect bryghtnes What of the tower, and of the cleare sunne, I could nothyng behold the goodlines Of that palaice, whereas Doctrine did wonne:1 Tyll at the last, with mysty wyndes donne, The radiant brightnes of golden Phebus Auster gan cover with clowde tenebrus." Then to the tower I drewe nere and nere, 5 10 15 And often mused of the great hyghnes Of the craggy rocke, which quadrant did appeare: But the fayre tower, so much of ryches Was all about, sexangled doubtles ; Gargeyld with grayhoundes, and with manylyons, 20 Made of fyne golde; with divers sundry dragons.* * Greyhounds, Lions, Dragons, were at that time the royal supporters. [1 dwell. 2 dark. * from gargoyle the spout of a gutter.] The little turrets with ymages of golde 25 About was set, whiche with the wynde aye moved. Wyth propre vices,1 that I did well beholde About the towers, in sundry wyse they hoved2 With goodly pypes, in their mouthes i-tuned, That with the wynde they pyped a daunce, I-clipped3 Amour de la hault plesaunce. CAP. IV. The toure was great and of marvelous wydnes, Where I sawe stondynge the goodly Portres, * This alludes to a former part of the Poem. [1 devices. 2 heaved. 3 called. 4 entrance. 30 35 40 45 50 a flight of steps. 6 busy. Percy reads base or lower court. 1 purified.] Of whyche there flowed foure ryvers ryght clere, And after thys farther forth me brought Dame Countenaunce into a goodly Hall, The flore was paved with berall clarified, That treated well of a ful noble story, Of the doubty waye to the Tower Perillous; t Howe a noble knyght should wynne the victory Of many a serpente fowle and odious. 55 60 65 70 [1 scent. 2 affording solace.] ΧΙ. THE CHILD OF ELLE, S given from a fragment in the Editor's folio MS. which, tho' extremely defective and mutilated, appeared to have so much merit, that it excited a strong desire to attempt a completion of the story. The Reader will easily discover the supplemental stanzas by their inferiority, and at the same time be inclined to pardon it, when he considers how difficult it must be to imitate the affecting simplicity and artless beauties of the original. Child was a title sometimes given to a knight. [The Child of Ell, as it appears in the folio MS., is a fragment without beginning or ending, so that Percy was forced to add some verses in order to fit it for his book, but the above note does not give any adequate notion of his contributions to the ballad. The verses that are entirely due to the bishop's pen are placed between brackets, and it will be seen from the copy of the original printed at the end that the remaining thirty lines are much altered from it. It is unfortunate that Percy's taste was not sufficient to save him from adding sentimental verses so out of character with the directness of the original as "Fair Emmeline sighed, fair Emmeline wept, At length he seized her lilly-white hand, On the other hand, the poem as it stands is certainly elegant, and Sir Walter Scott was justified in his high praise when he pointed out the beauty of verses 181-184. "The baron he stroked his dark brown cheek, To wipe away the starting tear, 66 Scott published a ballad called "Erlinton" for the first time in his Border Minstrelsy, which he says seems to be the rude original, or perhaps a corrupt and imperfect copy of The Child of Elle." The original fragment from the MS. is worth reading for its own sake as a genuine antique, which must outweigh in interest all manufactured imitations.] N yonder hill a castle standes With walles and towres bedight,1 The Child of Elle to his garden wente, The Child of Elle he hyed him thence, And soone he mette faire Emmelines page Nowe Christe thee save, thou little foot-page, Oh telle me how does thy ladye gaye, My lady shee is all woe-begone, And here shee sends thee a silken scarfe And here shee sends thee a ring of golde [1 bedecked.] 5 10 15 20 25 |