With al his knyghtes everilkane,
Behind leved thar noght anes.-
The king kest water on the stane,
The storme rase ful sone onane
With wikked weders, kene and calde,
Als it was byfore-hand talde.

The king and his men ilkane
Wend tharwith to have bene slane,
So blew it stor1 with slete and rayne:
And hastily than syr Ywayne*
Dight him graythly in his gere,
With nobil shelde, and strong spere:

When he was dight in seker wede,
Than he umstradem a nobil stede:
Him thoght that he was als lyght
Als a fowl es to the flyght.
Unto the Well fast wendes he,
And sone when thai myght him se,
Syr Kay, for he wald noght fayle,
Smertly askes the batayle.
And alsone than said the kyng,

Sir Kay, I grante the thine askyng.

m bestrode.

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

And sone sir Ywaine gan him tell
Of al his far how it byfell,

With the knight how that he sped,
And how he had the Lady wed;
And how the Mayden him helpid wele:
Thus tald he to him ilka dele.
Sir kyng, he sayd, I yow byseke,
And al yowr menye milde and meke,
That ye wald grante to me that grace,
At" wend with me to my purchace,
And se my Kastel and my Towre,
Than myght ye do me grete honowre.
The kyng granted him ful right
To dwel with him a fowretenyght.
Sir Ywayne thanked him oft sith,
The knyghtes war al glad and blyth,
With sir Ywaine for to wend:
And sone a squier has he send
Unto the kastel, 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.
Hastily that Lady hende
Cumand al hir 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;

n to.

。 oft-times.

* waited on.

See Tyrwh. Gl. Ch.

Thai hailsed him ful curtaysly,
And also al his cumpany:
Thai said he was worthy to dowt%,
That so fele folk led obowt":
That was grete joy, I yow bihete,
With clothes spredt in ilka strete,
And damysels danceand ful wele,
With trompes, pipes, and with fristele:
The Castel and the Cetee rang
With mynstralsi and nobil sang.
Thai ordand tham ilkane in fer
To kepe the king on faire maner.
The Lady went withouten towne,
And with her many balde barowne,
Cled in purpure and ermyne,
With girdels al of gold 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 sayd omang,
Welkum ertou, kyng Arthoure,
Of al this werld thou beres the floure!
Lord kyng of all kynges,

And blessed be he that the brynges!
When the Lady the Kyng saw,
Unto him fast gan sho draw,
To hald his sterap whils he lyght;
Bot sone when he of hir had syght,
With mekyl myrth thai samen met,
With hende wordes sho him gret;
A thousand sithes welkum sho says,
And so es syr Gawayne the curtayse.
The king said, Lady white so flowr,
God gif the joy and mekil honowr,
For thou ert fayr with body gent:
With that he hir in armes hent,
And ful faire he gan hir falde,
Thar was many to bihalde:
It es no man with tong may tell
The mirth that was tham omell;

saluted.

to fear.

so large a train of knights.

promise you.

tapestry spread on the walls.

gallantries, jewels. Davie says, that

in one of Alexander's battles, many a lady
lost her drewery. Geste Alexander, MS.
p. 86.
Athens is called the Drywery of
the world. ibid.

V

W

together.
fold.

Of maidens was thar so gude wane*,
That ilka knight myght take ane.

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

And ilk day thai had solace sere
Of huntyng, and als of revere":
For thar was a ful fayre cuntre,
With wodes and parkes grete plente;
And castels wroght with lyme and stane,
That Ywayne with his wife had tane."

This Lay, or Song, like the romance
in the text, is opened with a feast cele-
brated at Whitsontide by king Arthur at
Kardoyl, a French corruption from Car-
liol, by which is meant Cairleon in Wales,
sometimes in romances confounded with
Cardiff. [See Geoffr. Monm. ix. 12.]
"Jci commence le Lay de Launval."
Laventure de un Lay,

Cum ele avint vus cunteray,
Fait fu dun gentil vassal,
En Bretaigne lapelent Launval:
A Kardoyl suiornont li reys
Arthur, li prouz, e li curteys,
Pur les Escot, e pur les Pis,
Ki destrueient les pays;
En la terre de Logres1 le trououent,
Mult souent le damagouent:

A la Pentecuste en estè,
I aveit li reys sojournè,
A les i dona riches duns,

E al cuntes2, e al baruns,
A ceus de la Table Runde, &c.

That is, "Here begins the Lay of Launval.-[I will relate to you.] The Adventure of a certain Lay, made of a gentle vassal, whom in Bretaigne they called Launval. The brave and courteous king Arthur sojourned at Kardoyl, for making war against the Scots and Picts, who destroyed the country. He found them in the land of Logres, where they committed frequent outrages. The king was there at the feast of Pentecost, where he gave rich gifts to the counts and barons, and the knights of the round table," &c.

The writing of this manuscript of Launval seems about 1300. The composition is undoubtedly much earlier. There is another, MSS. Harl. 978. §112. This I have cited in the First Dissertation. From this French Launval is translated, but with great additions, the English Launfall, of which I have given several extracts in the Third Dissertation prefixed to the first volume. [See also supr. vol. ii. p. 323, NOTE A.]

I presume this romance of Ywain and Gawayne is translated from a French one of the same title, and in the reign of Henry the Sixth; but not by Thomas Chestre, who translated, or rather paraphrased, Launval, or Sir Launfall, and who seems to have been master of a more copious and poetic style. It is not however unlikely, that Chestre translated from a more modern French copy of Launval, heightened

1 Logres, or Loegria, from Locrine, was the middle part of Britain.

2 counts. So in Sir Robert of Gloucester, we have Contass for countess. On which word his editor Hearne observes, that king James the First used to call a Countess a cuntys; and he quotes one of James's letters, "Come and bring the three Cuntys [for countesses] with you." Gloss. p. 635.

SECTION XLIV.

The Notbrowne Mayde. Not older than the sixteenth century. Artful contrivance of the story. Misrepresented by Prior. Metrical Romances, Guy, syr Bevys, and Kynge Apolyn, printed in the reign of Henry. The Scole house, a Satire. Christmas Carols. Religious Libels in rhyme. Merlin's Prophecies. Laurence Minot. Occasional disquisition on the late continuance of the use of waxen tablets. Pageantries of Henry's Court. Dawn of Taste.

I FEAR I shall be pronounced a heretic to modern criticism, in retracting what I have said in a preceding page, and in placing the NOTBROWNE MAYDE under some part of this reign*. Prior, who, about the year 1718, paraphrased this poem, without improving its native beauties, supposes it to have been three hundred years old. It appears from two letters preserved in the British Museum, written by Prior to Wanley, lord Oxford's librarian, that Prior consulted Wanley about this ancient ballada. It is, however, certain, that Wanley, an antiquarian of unquestionable skill and judgement in these niceties, whatever directions and information he might have imparted to Prior on this subject, could never have communicated such a decision. He certainly in these letters gives no such opinion". This is therefore the hasty con

and improved from the old simple Armorican tale of which I have here produced a short extract. [See supr. vol. ii. p. 306. note *.] [The original of [Ywaine and Gawin] is Le chevalier au Lion, by Chrestien or Christian de Troyes, an eminent French poet who died in 1191; [and] the only ancient copy of the [English version] is contained in the Cotton MS. Galba, E. ix. which seems to have been written in the time of Richard II., or towards the close of the fourteenth century.-RITSON.] The same perhaps may be said of the English metrical romance Emare, who marries the king of Galys, or Wales, originally an Armorican tale, before quoted. MSS. Cott. Calig. A. 2. fol. 69. [See Diss. III, prefixed to the first volume,] [and Mr. Ritson's Metrical Romances, vol. ii. where it is printed.-PRICE.] The last stanza confirms what has been advanced in the First Dissertation, concerning the connection between Cornwall and Bretagne, or Armorica. fol. ult.

A grette feste thar was holde
Of erles and barons bolde,

As testymonieth thys story: Thys is on of BRYTAYNE LAYES, That was used in olde dayes,

Men callys playn the GARYE

I believe the last line means, "Made for an
entertainment,"-
"-"Which men call play-
ing the GARYE." The reader may perhaps
recollect, that the old Cornish Miracle in-
terlude was called the Guary Mirakil, that
is, the Miracle Play. [See supr. vol. ii.
p. 20. note c. In Cornish, Plán an guare
is the level place, the plain of sport and
pastime, the theatre of games, &c. Guare
is a Cornish verb, to sport, to play. In
affinity with which, is probably garish,
gay, splendid. Milton, Il Pens. v. 141.
Day's garish eye. Shakspeare, Rom. and
Jul. iii. 4. The garish sun. King Richard
the Third, A garish flag. Compare Lye,
Sax. Dict. v. geappian. To dress fine.

Who was the translator of Emare, is not known. I presume it was translated in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and very probably by Thomas Chestre, the translator of Launval.

*[i. e. the reign of Henry VIII., but Herbert says he possessed an edition which was printed about 1502, i. e. the 18th year of Henry VII.-PARK.] a MSS. Harl. 3777.

These letters are printed in the Additions to Pope's Works, in two volumes, published about two years ago. [Namely in 1776. This publication has been at