Though some make slight of Libels, yet you may see by them how the wind sits: As, take a straw and throw it up into the air, you may see by that which way the wind is, which you shall not do by casting up a stone. More solid things do not show the complexion of the times so well as Ballads and Libels. SELDEN'S TAble-talk, I. RICHARD OF ALMAIGNE. "A BALLAD made by one of the adherents to Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, soon after the battle of Lewes, which was fought May 14, 1264," -affords a curious specimen of ancient satire, and shows that the liberty, assumed by the good people of this realm, of abusing their kings and princes at pleasure, is a privilege of very long standing. To render this antique libel intelligible, the reader is to understand that just before the battle of Lewes, which proved so fatal to the interests of Henry III. the barons had offered his brother Richard King of the Romans 30,000l. to procure a peace upon such terms as would have divested Henry of all his regal power, and therefore the treaty proved abortive. The consequences of that battle are well known: the king, prince Edward his son, his brother Richard, and many of his friends, fell into the hands of their enemies; while two great barons of the king's party, John Earl of Warren, and Hugh Bigot the king's Justiciary, had been glad to escape into France. In the 1st stanza the aforesaid sum of thirty thousand pounds is alluded to; but, with the usual misrepresentation of party malevolence, is asserted to have been the exhorbitant demand of the king's brother. With regard to the 2d stanza the reader is to note that Richard, along with the earldom of Cornwall, had the honours of Wallingford and Eyre confirmed to him on his marriage with Sanchia, daughter of the Count of Provence, in 1243Windsor Castle was the chief fortress belonging to the king, and had been garrisoned by foreigners : a circumstance which furnishes out the burthen of each stanza. The 3d stanza alludes to a remarkable circumstance which happened on the day of the battle of Lewes. After the battle was lost, Richard King of the Romans took refuge in a windmill, which he barricadoed, and maintained for some time against the barons, but in the evening was obliged to surrender. See a very full account of this in the Chronicle of Mailros; Oxon. 1684. P. 229. The 4th stanza is of obvious interpretation : Richard, who had been elected King of the Romans in 1256, and had afterwards gone over to take possession of his dignity, was in the year 1259 about to return into England, when the barons raised a popular clamour that he was bringing with him foreigners to over-run the kingdom: upon which he was forced to dismiss almost all his followers, otherwise the barons would have opposed his landing. In the 5th stanza the writer regrets the escape of the Earl of Warren; and in the 6th and 7th stanzas insinuates, that, if he and Sir Hugh Bigot once fell into the hands of their adversaries, they should never more return home; a circumstance which fixes the date of this ballad; for, in the year 1265, both these noblemen landed in South Wales, and the royal party soon after gained the ascendant. See Holinshed, Rapin, &c. The following is copied from a very ancient MS. in the British Museum. [Harl. MSS. 2253. s. 23.] This MS. is judged, from the peculiarities of the writing, to be not later than the time of Richard II.; th being every where expressed by the character p the y is pointed after the Saxon manner, and the í hath an oblique stroke over it. By God, that is aboven ous, he dude muche synne, Sire Simond de Mountfort hath suore bi ys chyn, 30 Ne with sheld, ne with spere, ne with other gyn, 35 To help of Wyndesore. Richard, thah thou be ever, &c. Sire Simond de Montfort hath suore bi ys cop Be the luef, be the loht, sire Edward, Ant that reweth sore Edward, thou dudest as a shreward, Forsoke thyn emes lore Richard, &c. 40 45 50 This ballad will rise in its importance with the reader, when he finds that it is even believed to have occasioned a law in our Statute Book, viz. Against slanderous reports or tales, to cause discord betwixt king and people." (Westm. Primer, c. 34, anno 3. Edw. I.) That it had this effect, is the opinion of an eminent writer: See " Observations upon the Statutes, &c." 4to, 2d edit. 1766, p. 71. However, in the Harl. Collection may be found other satirical and defamatory rhymes of the same age, that might have their share in contributing to this first law against libels. II. ON THE DEATH OF KING EDWARD THE FIRST. We have here an early attempt at elegy. Edward I. died July 7, 1307, in the thirty-fifth year of his reign, and sixty-ninth of his age. This poem appears to have been composed soon after his death. According to the modes of thinking peculiar to tnose times, the writer dwells more upon his devo Ver. 2, kyn, MS. tion than his skill in government; and pays less attention to the martial and political abilities of this great monarch, in which he had no equal, than to some little weaknesses of superstition, which he had in common with all his contemporaries. The Vid. Gloss. Ver. 40, g'te here MS. i. e. grant their. Ver. 44, This stanza was omitted in the former editions. 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, That maketh me syke, ant sorewe among; Of wham God hath don ys wille; Al Englond ahte for te knowe Kyng of Fraunce, thou hevedest 'sinne,' 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 Ther me con the soule blesse: So fain thou wouldest hit hav y-wonne. Of wham that song is, that y synge; 10 Er we a such kyng han y-founde." Of Edward kyng, that lich so lowe, Nou is Edward of Carnarvan He spek ase mon that wes in care, "Clerkes, knyhtes, barons, he sayde, III. AN ORIGINAL BALLAD BY CHAUCER. 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, 2. And but your words will helen hastely 3. Upon my trouth I sey yow feithfully, II. 1. So hath youre beauty fro your herte chased 2. Giltless my deth thus have ye purchased; 3. Alas, that nature hath in yow compassed III. 1. Syn I fro love escaped am so fat I nere thinke to ben in his prison iene; 2. He may answere, and sey this and that, 3 Love hath my name i-strike out of his sclat, IV. THE TURNAMENT OF TOTTENHAM: "OR THE WOOEING, WINNING, AND WEDDING OF TIBBE, THE REEV'S DAVGHTER THERE." 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. 1762. Meinoirs de la Chevaleric, par M. de la Curne des Palais, 1759, 2 tom. 12mo. &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. THE TURNAMENT OF TOTTENHAM. 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 1641 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. Perkyn the potter into the press past, Therfor faine wyt wold I, To wed hur to hys fere. Upstyrt thos gadelyngys wyth ther lang staves, Then sayd Perkyn, To Tybbe I have hyzt Or all thes kene conquerours to carpe it were kynde; Thay sowed tham in schepeskynnes, for thay schuld Of fele feyztyng folk ferly we fynde, The Turnament of Totenham have we in mynde; not brest : 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 suppelld from PC. Ver. 72, He borrowed him, PC. V. 78, The MS. had once sedys, i. e. seeds, which appears to have been altered to fedyrs, or feathers Bedweil opy ha Senvy, i. e. Mustard-seed. |