peculiar to that champion, being an attribute of many of the Knights of the Round Table, against whom the learned Ascham thus inveighs: "In our forefathers' time, when papistrie, as a standing poole, covered and overflowed all England, few bookes were red in our toong, savying certayne bookes of chivalrie, as they sayd, for pastime and pleasure, which, as some say, were made in monasteries by idle monkes or wanton chanons. As one, for example, Morte Arthure, the whole pleasure of whiche booke standeth in two specyall poyntes; in open mans slaughtre, and bolde bawdrie in which bookes those be counted the noblest knightes thate do kill most men without any quarrell, and commit fowlest aduoulteries by sutlest shifts; as Sir Lancelot with the wife of King Arthure, his maister: Sir Tristrem with the wife of King Mark, his uncle: Syr Lamerocke with the wife of King Lote, that was his own aunte. This is good stuffe for wise men to laughe at. or honest men to take pleasure at. Yet I know when God's Bible was banished the court, and Morte Arthure receaved into the prince's chamber. What toys the dayly reading of such a booke may work in the will of a yong gentleman, or a yong maide, that liveth welthely and idlely, wise men can judge, and honest men doe pittie."-ASCHAM'S Schoole Master.

The best apology, in Sir Tristrem's case, may be the powerful effects of the boire amoureuse; but many curious inferences might be drawn from such loose morality being a distinguishing feature of books of chivalry.

He cleped Tristrem with this,

And bi toke him the Quene,

And flemed hem bothe Y wis.-P. 358, st. 44.

The prose folio is far from making the retreat of Tristrem and Ysonde the effect of banishment by King Mark. Andret, according to that authority, had beset Tristrem with a body of men, as he returned unarmed, and, to say truth, almost naked, out of the Queen's apartment. The champion escaped into a chapel which overhung the sea, and was at length compelled to throw himself among the waves. With great difficulty he gained a small rock, or island. Meanwhile Mark commanded that Ysonde should be delivered up to the lepers, as a worse punishment than that of burning, to which he had originally destined her. From these miserable and diseased outcasts the Queen is rescued by Gouvernail, with a body of Tristrem's friends; for his valour and liberality had attached to him a strong party in Cornwall. The same assistance rescues the knight from perishing on the island. When Tristrem and Ysonde are thus reunited, they dismiss their followers, and plunge into the depths of the forest of Moroys where they reside in the manner mentioned in the text, and in the Fragment, p. 372.

In that forest fede,

Tristrem flodain gan chast.-P. 358, st. 16.

To chastise the dog, is here metaphorically used for breaking him to the chase, which, as every sportsman knows, requires chastisement with no gentle hand. The prose folio, which mentions the retreat of the lovers into the forest, in consequence of their flight from the jealousy of King Mark, adds, “Illecques apprint Tristran a Huden [the Hodain of Tomas] a chasser sans glattir, pource qu'il ne fut guitté en aucun maniere." Poachers, I believe, fully understand the importance of training dogs to chase, without giving tongue. Hodain's fidelity and attachment figure in every edition of the romance of Tristrem. He alone could recognise him, when disguised as a fool, (see p. 372); he alone knew him in his state of unaffected frenzy, (Tristan, fueil. cxix.); and when the bodies of Ysonde and Tristrem were brought to Cornwall to be buried, Hodain left the wood, without turning aside to chase any of the stags with which it abounded, and ran straight to the chapel, into which he was admitted by Pernus, the squire of Tristrem, who watched his corpse: "Illec demourent Pernus et Heudene sans boire et sans manger; et quant iiz avoyent fait leur dueil sur Tristan, ilz alloyent sur la Royne Yseult."-Tristan, feuillet derniere.

This extraordinary custom is ridiculed in the following passage of an old play: "Meriel. Yes; and then Springlove, to make him madder, told him that he would be bis proxy, and marry her for him, and lie with her

In on erthe house thai layn,

Etenes, bi old dayn,

Had wrought it with outen wougb.-P. 359, st. 47.

Eten, Sax., signifies a giant, perhaps from their supposed vore city. "They say the King of Portugal cannot sit at his meat, but giants and etins will come and snatch it from him."—Knyght of the Burning Pestle. The author has already said of Morant, that he was an eten in every fight. Fytte I., st. 87. in the Complaynt of Scotland, the tale of the Red Eten with Thre Heads is mentioned among other popular stories narrated by the shepherds. Britain was supposed of old to have been peopled with giants in the following manner: A certain King of Greece had twenty daughters, married to princes and men of rank. It so fell out, that all the sisters took a fancy to murder their hus bands, and were only prevented by the youngest giving information of the plot. The worthy king, much scandalized, banished all his daughters to Britain, a desert isle, which then first received the name of Albion, from Albin, the eldest of the fair convicts. Here the female colonists found themselves so much at ease, that they only longed for a little flirtation. The devil, the earliest gallant of antiquity, was ready to indulge them :

"The fende of helle, that foule wight,

Amonges hem al ther alight;

And engenderd ther on them,

Geauntes that were strong men;

And of bem come the geauntes stronge,
That were begeten in this lond."

Chronicle of the Kings of England.

These giants were extirpated by Brutus and his followers. But the caverns, which this mighty tribe of Anak had hewn "without wough, (i. e. fatigue,) are still shown in various parts of the island, particularly in Cornwall and Devonshire, the scene of our story. See BORLASE'S Cornwall, p. 292. The large cave at Badinawr is called the Giants' Holt. Ibid.

Yif that weren in sinne, Nought so thai no lay, Lo, hou thai liue atvinne;

Thai no hede nought of swiche play.-P. 359, st. 23.

It may appear surprising to some of my readers, that Mark should adopt a firm belief of the innocence of his wife and nephew, merely from finding them asleep with the naked sword laid betwixt them; but, in the middle ages, this circumstance was an acknowledged and formal emblem of the strictest continence be twixt persons, who, from whatever cause, were placed in circumstances otherwise suspicions. In Germany, when the marriage of the great was solemnized by proxy, it was deemed necessary, to prevent any cavil or chance of future repudiation, that a sort of emblematical consummation should also take place. The representative, therefore, of the royal bridegroom, was fairly bedded with the lady, whom he had married as his master's proxy. This ceremony of bett-sprung, as it was termed, took place when Louis, county palatine of Weldenz, as proxy for the Duke of Austria, was wedded to the fair Princess of Burgundy. The bride was laid in a stately bed, upon which the count, in presence of the ladies of the court: reclined himself, placing his right leg. lightly booted, under the cover. A naked sword, the emblem of continence, was placed betwixt the parties; and this particular circumstance announced to all the world the typical nature of the ceremony. I

The same custom is sometimes referred to in romances. In that of Amis and Amelion, already quoted, (see note on stanza 106. Fytte 11.,) we are informed, that while Amis occupied the place of his friend at his court, and was received by Amelion's lady as her husband,

"Whan it was comen to the night,
Schir Amis and that leuedi bright,
To bed thai can go;
When thai were togither y-layd,

the first night, with a naked cudgel betwixt them, and make him a king of beggars."-Jovial Crew, Act V. Sc. II. First acted in 1641.

Schir Amis his swerd out braid, And layd betuix hem tuo."

Upon Sir Amelion's return, he adopts, but with better reason, the conclusion, inferred by King Mark from a similar circumstance:

"The leuedi as tite asked him tho,

Whi that he hadde farn su,

Al that fourten night,

Laid his swerd betuen hem to,

That sche no durst nought for wele ne wo,
Touche his bodi aright?

Sir Amelion bethought him than
His brother was a true man,

That had so done aplight."

A similar circumstance occurs in the Arabian Tales, where Aladdin having, by virtue of the magic lamp, introduced himself into the bed of a princess, lays his naked sabre betwixt them, to signify, that he did not intend to abuse that opportunity. In the folio Tristan this circumstance is omitted, perhaps because the evidence of innocence was thought too slight to carry conviction even to King Mark. That monarch finds the Queen alone during Tristrem's absence and carries her away before his return.

Nas neuer so sori man,

Tristrem than was he.-P. 360. st. 27.

In the French folio, Tristrem, in his absence from his mistress, exhausts his grief in long lamentable poems. One of these, called the Lay of Death, contains some pretty and pathetic passages. Mons. de Tressan has given an imitation of the Lai Mortel, or Lay of Death, in the Corps d'Extraits, vol. i. p. 84.

For thi the knightes gan say,

That wrong Markes had sen.-P. 360, st. 29.

The barons of Cornwall were very indulgent to the frailties of the fair sex. The folio informs us, that Morgain, the false enchantress, had constructed a drinking-horn, out of which no mar. ried woman could drink without spilling, unless she had been uniformly faithful to her husband. This touchstone of matrimonial fidelity she despatched, by a knight, to the court of King Arthur, hoping to dishonour the lovely Queen Guenever. But Sir Lamoracke de Galis met the messenger, and compelled him to go to the court of King Mark, whom he hated, and there to exhibit the enchanted horn. That fair Ysonde failed in the proof is not surprising; but of all the ladies present at the cour pleniere, four only could drink without spilling the wine. Mark hereupon moved, in his parliament, that a large bonfire should be made for the reception of the ladies of his court in general, and Ysonde among others. But his licge-men withstood him manfully. "If be would or could," they said, "he might burn his own wife; but as for theirs, they would not slay them for such a trifle." The King became yet more astonished and incensed at their opposition; but the barons were intractable, and voted unanimously, that the horn had been made by false witchery, and only to cause debate and strife among true lovers; and many knights made their vow, that if ever they caught Morgain the contriver, they would show her short courtesy. Mark at length succumbed, after the following gracious speech from the throne: "Fair sirs, if ye will not burn your wives, I will also acquit mine, and hold the trial of the born as false witchcraft." This horn occurs in the tale of the Boy and the Mantle, in the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. iii.

Spaine he hath thurch sayn,

Geauntes he slough thre.-P. 360, st, 30.

Spain, whose most fertile provinces were so long possessed by the Saracens, was, to the romancers, a sort of fairy-land. Giants, enchanters, and monstrous paynims of every sort, were to be found among

-"the dark tribes of late reviving Spain."
Oxford Prize Poem on Palestine.

for his place of refuge, as it was peopled by a colony from Cornwall and Wales, during the distractions of the Roman empire. It is at least certain that the language, laws, and customs of the Britons, or Armoricans, coincided with those of the Cornish and Welsh, with whom they carried on a constant intercourse. The duke, with whom Sir Tristrem takes refuge, and whose daughter he afterwards married, is called Florentin, in stanza 52. In the prose romance he is named Hoel, probably to identify him with the Earl Oell of Bretagne, mentioned by the Pseudo-Turpin, as being, even in his day, the subject of popular poetry. "Oellus, Comes urbis quæ vulgo dicitur Nantes. . . . . . de hoc canitur in cantilena usque in hodiernum diem, quia innumera fecit mirabilia." -Cap. xi.

Of Ysonde he made a song,

That song Ysonde bidene.-P. 360, st. 33.

The poet here takes an advantage of the two Ysondes bearing the same name, which is entirely lost in the folio. Ysonde of Brittany, hearing Tristrem sing a lay in praise of the Queen of Cornwall, is induced to believe him her lover, and to beg her father to authorize their union. Thus, their marriage is brought about with more apology for Tristrem's infidelity than could otherwise have been furnished. This is one of the circumstances omitted in the prose romance, which mark the antiquity and originality of Thomas's poem. In the former work, the resemblance of names occasions unnecessary embarrassment to the reader, without in any way contributing to advance the plot.

-The deru dede,

Do it Y no dare.-P. 361, st. 37.

"Tristan se coucha avecques Yseult. Le luminaire ardoit si cler, que Tristan pouvoit bien veoir la beaulté de Yseult. Elle avoit la bouche blanche et tendre, yeux vers rians, les sourcilz bruns et bien assis, la face clere et vermeille. Tristan la baise et accolle; et quant il luy souvient de la Reyne Yseult de Cornouaille, si a toute perdu la voullenté ce surplus faire. Ceste Yseult est devant luy, et l'autre est en Cornouailles, qui luy deffend, si cher comme il ayme son corps, que a ceste Yseult ne face chose, qui a villennie luy tourne. Ainsi demoure Tristan avecques Yseult sa femme; et elle, qui d'autre soulas que d'accoller et de baiser ne savoit, s'endort entre les bras de Tristan."-Tristan, f. lix.

Thou slough his brether thre,

Vrgan and Morgan vnfre, And Moraunt.-P. 361, st. 39.

It is difficult to say for what purpose the minstrel has established this relationship among all the persons who fell under the sword of Tristrem. Perhaps it is only meant, that they were brethren in arms, a sacred bond of union, which chivalry borrowed from the Fostbrædalag of Scandinavia. In Pagan times, it was formed by mingling the blood of the future brothers, of which they mutually tasted. In the Loka-Lenna, or Strife of Loc, that malevolent demon, being excluded from the banquet of the gods, thus addresses Odin :

"Mantu that Odinn, etc. "Father of slaughter, Odin, say, Remember'st not the former day, When ruddy in the goblet stood, For mutual drink, our blended blood? Remember'st not, thou then didst swear The festive banquet ne'er to share, Unless thy brother Lok were there?" This custom prevailed in Scythia. See the Toxaris of Lucian, and Joinville, Louvre edition, p. 104.

In to Bretein be ches,

Bicome the Doukes knight.-P. 360, st. 32.

There is propriety and probability in Tristrem choosing Brittany

He blewe priis as he can,

Thre mot other mare.-P. 361, st. 41.

The prise was the note blown at the death of the stag. Among the many causes of contention between knights-errant and those persons who exceeded six feet in height, the rigour of the latter, in preservation of their game, was a frequent subject of dispute.

It will readily be anticipated, that the giant is slain by Sir Egla

mour.

Another instance of the risk at which the lords of a manor interfered with the deer-stealing chivalry of the time, occurs in the Romance of Gy of IVarwick. Gy, hunting in a forest belonging to the Earl Florentin, had slain a boar, and blown the priis :"Tho Gy had opened that swine snelle,

He gan to blowe as Y you telle;

Bi God, quath Erl Florentin.

Who may that be, for Seynt Martin, That ich here in mi forest blowe ?

Hert, other bore, he bath downe throwe."

He cleped to him a knight ying,

His sone he was, a feir yongling;

'Sone,' he seyd, 'to hors thou go,

And who so it be bring him me to.""

The young knight finds Gy, and demands his horse, as a forfeit for hunting in his lord's forest. Gy offers to attend him to the lord of the domain, but refuses to surrender the steed, saying, it was no knight's fashion to go on foot. This did not satisfy the young earl :

"Gy by the reyn he hath y-nome,

With strengthe be wende to the hors come;
The he war wroth, it was no ferly,
With that staff he smote Sir Gy.
Wicked man, thou hast me smite,
Thou shalt i, abigge God it wite.'
With his horn he him smot,

His breyn he schadde fot-hot."

After this adventure, Gy, bewildered in the forest, is hospitably received in the castle of Earl Florentin. During the repast, the dead body of the earl's son is brought home. In the first transport of rage, Florentin assaults Sir Gy with an andiron. His attendants crowd to assist his revenge. But when Gy claims the right of hospitality, the spirit of chivalrous honour tempers the Earl's paternal feelings: he commands his followers to hold; suffers Gy to arm himself, and pass out of the castle, then follows and defies him to mortal combat. The Earl Florentin had not borne arms for fifteen years, and was overthrown at the first shock. But the victor pitied him, both for his age, and the irreparable injury he had done him; he leaped off his good steed, and left it with the earl, in acknowledgment of his having given him "meat at need;" with the assurance, however, that he would never again burden his hospitality. In those days, when "might was right," to "beat the men, kill the deer, break open the lodge," or even to "kiss the keeper's daughter," was only matter of dishonour and punishment, if the adventurer wanted resolution or strength to make good his aggression.

Vnkinde were ous to kis,

As kenne.-P. 361, st. 42.

That is, "it were unnatural that thou (who hast slain my brothers) and I should sainte like kinsfolk." There occurs often, in the old romances, a rude gibing betwixt combatants, similar to some passages in the liad. Thus, in the duel betwixt Otuwel and Clarel the Saracen,

Fond him riche wald,

To fine.-P. 362, st. 47.

This is a passage of difficult interpretation. I am inclined to explain it thus: Beliagog in that necessity wald fond him rich, i. e. would prove his wealth-to fine, finally, an expletive. Beliagog, and the castle which he built, are not mentioned in the prose romance, nor even in the French fragments; though, in the last, there is an obvious allusion to the statues with which the hall was enriched.-See p. 374. There is, in the prose book, a tale of Uther Pendragon, who carried on an intrigue with the wife of Ægrian, one of his vassals. But Egrian was no Mark; he encountered the King, discomfited him, and only granted him mercy on condition he should build him an impregnable castle, to be called La vergongne Uterpendragon, fueil. cxvii.

Stanza 48, p. 362.

It would appear from this stanza, that, in the castle built by Beliagog, there was a private entrance, by which Sir Tristrem might enter at pleasure. Such contrivances were frequent in ancient castles; and from the following passage in Froissart, it seems that they were often referred to in the days of romance. When the forces of Charles of France were actively engaged in expelling the adventurers, as they were called,-a sort of mercenary troops partaking much of the character of banditti, who, during the wars betwixt England and France, had possessed themselves of many fortresses in Aquitane,-Sir Walter of Paschac was the principal leader of the French, and closely blockaded the Castle of Pulpuron, whereof Angerot, a chief of the adventurous companions, called the Little Meschine, was castellan. Sir Walter had sworn by his father's soul, that he would take none of the besieged to ransom, but would put them all to the sword. But Angerot had a cave within the castle, the other entrance of which was in a wood about half a league distant. Through this passage be made his escape, with his followers, loaded with the booty which they had pillaged from the neighbouring country. The third day after their departure, the French commenced a furious discharge of arrows upon the castle, which, to their great surprise, was not answered from within. "Then there were ordayned ladders to set up agaynst the walles, and they that mounted on them passed over the walls and entered into the castell, and founde no creature therein. And than they went to the gate, and there they found a great bundell of kåyes, and among other they found the kays of the gate, and opynet it, and than all the barryers one after another; whereof the lordes had great marveyl, and specially Sir Gualtyer of Paschac; he weind they had been departed out of the castell by enchantment, and then demanded of them that were about hym how it might be. The seneschal of Tholous sayd to hym,- Sir, surely they cannot be thus gone, without they have some secret way under the erthe, which I think there be.' Than all the castle was sought, in every corner where any such way should be. Than they founde in a cellar the mouth of the alley open, and there all the lordes did behold it, and Sir Gualtyer had great marveyle thereof, and demaunded of the seneschal of Tholous, if he knew before of any such cave. 'Sir,' quoth he, 'I have herd er this thereof; but I thought nothing that they would thus have departed by that way.'-'By my faythe,' quoth Sir Gualtyer, they be gone that same way. Have the castells of this countrye such ordynaunce?'-'Sir,' quod Sir Hugh, there be divers such castells, as of old tyme perteyned to

Reynault of Montabon, that hath such conveyaunce; for, when he and his brethren kept war agaynst Kynge Charlemayne of France, they were made alt after this manner by the council and advice of Maugis their cousin; for when the king besieged them by puyssance, and that they saw they could not resyst him, then wolde they departe, without any leve takyng, by meanes of those passages under the erthe.'-'Surely,' said Sir Brews, I laud gretly the ordynaunce. 1 cannot saye if ever I shall have any warre agaynst me or not, other by kynge, duke, or by any other neighbour, but, as soon as I am returned into my country, I shall cause such a mine to be made in my castle of Passac. So these lords and their company came to the garrison of Convale, in Robestan, and layde syege therto, and then Sir Gualtyer demaunded of the seneschal of Tholous, if Convale antiently perteyned to Raynalte of Mountalbon, and he said, 'Yes.'-'Then is there a cave under the grounde,' said Sir Gualtyer.-'Sir, that is true,' said Sir Brews, 'for by reason thereof Espaygnolet wan it the second tyme, and the owner within it. Then Sir Gualtyer sent for the knyght that was owner thereof, and sayd to hym, 'Sir, it were good ye enformed us of the myne that is out of this castell. Then Sir Raymond of Convayle sayde, 'Sir, surely there is a way under the grounde, for thereby I was taken, and lost this my castel: it was before of long time decayed and destroyed, but these robbers new repayred it, and by that way they came on me; and, sir, the issue thereof is in a wood not farre hence.Wel,' sayde Sir Gaultyer, 'all is wel.' And so I dayes after he wente to the same wood, and had with him cc men well armed; and when he saw the hole where the issue was, he caused the erthe and bushes to be avoyded, and then he lyghted up many fagottes, and sayd to them that were ordeyned to go into the cave, 'Sirs, follow this cave, and it shall bring you into the hall of Convale, and there ye shall find a dore; breke it up, ye are strong enough so to do, and to fighte with them within.' So they entered and came to the grece (steps), nere to the hall dore in the castell, then with gret axes they strake at the dore; and by the time it was nere night, they within the castell made good wache, and perceyved how by the myne they wolde have entered into the castell, and Espaygnollet was going to his rest. Then came he thyder, and there they cast stones, benches, and timber, before the cave door, to the intente that none should enter there, thoogh the dore were broken up. This was done, for other shift had they none of defence; but for all that, they within the myne anone brake the dore all to peces, and yet were never the nere, for then they had more to do than they had before; and when they saw it was impossible for them to enter there, they returned again to the host." In conclusion, however, all egress by the subterranean passage being prevented, the castle was taken, and the defenders put to the sword.-FROISSART, vol. ii fo. xlviii.

So fiifliche weren that alle,

Ymages semed it nought.-P. 362, st. 50.

It is difficult exactly to determine whether painting or statuary is the subject of this curious description. I incline to the former opinion; for, in stanza 62, Ganhardin rushes to salute Ysonde aud Brengwain, and, in his precipitation, breaks his head against the wall. This mistake might more easily occur where colours aided the deception, than if the figures had been cut in stone, as the word "images" seems to imply. The hall of a Gothic castle was usually painted on the sides and roof; at least upon the latter, the former being often hung with tapestry. Some vestiges of this decoration may be traced in the banqueting room of the ancient castle of Borthwich, about twelve miles from Edinburgh, The painting is executed on a vaulted roof of hewn stone, with suitable inscriptions: such as "the Palais of Honor." In this hall Bothwell was feasting with the unfortunate Mary, when the first insurrection took place against her authority. They were nearly surprised, the Queen escaping with difficulty, in the disguise, it is said, of a page.

I find no mention of the images in the folio, but they are alluded to in the Metrical Fragment, p. 374. In Lancelot du Lac,

Queen Guenever surprised Morgain in the embraces of a favourite knight, and very imprudent y published her disgrace. Of course, Sir Lancelot and she experienced all the mortification and danger which could be

there occurs a circumstance somewhat similar. That knight was long confined by the envious Morgaine la Faye, sister to King Arthur, but resembling him in none of his good qualities, and widely differing from him in his unsuspicious confidence in Queen Guenever. The good knight, finding his time hang heavy, chose to charm it away, by painting on the walls of his prison the whole history of his amours with the wife of the great Arthur, who, in these tender concerns, shared the fate of the cowardly and petty King of Cornwall. Sir Lancelot, distrusting, probably, his own powers of producing the desired resemblance, was at the farther pains to guide the spectator to the meaning of the painting, by certain mottos and distiches, pointing out the nature of the adventures, and the quality of the dramatis persona. He could not possibly have made worse use of his leisure; for some time afterwards, King Arthur, while visiting his sister, was lodged, by the insidious Morgain, in this painted chamber. Though probably no great amateur of painting, these decorations were enough to interest him for the whole night. The result was a confirmation of the suspicions often infused into his mind by Sir Gawain and his brethren. A breach with Sir Lancelot became unavoidable, which finally occasioned the destruction of the whole chivalry of the Round Table.

Mine hert hye hath y-steke,

Brengwain bright and free.-P. 364, st. 64.

The love of Ganhardin for the trusty confidante of Ysonde is mentioned in the Fragments, p. 373, but not in the folio. According to later authority, the hand of Brengwain is bestowed upon Gouvernail, the squire of Tristrem, and this faithful couple succeed to the Kingdom of Lionesse. Ganhardin, called Kahedin in the folio, and Pheredan by Tressan, is supposed to express the same ardent longing to see Ysonde, which is mentioned in the text; but, his desire being satisfied, he falls desperately in love with her, and continues to write, in her praise, one long lay after another, till he exhausts both his strength and poetical powers, and fairly dies while concluding a madrigal. This is not the worst effect of his passion; for Ysonde, naturally gentle, had been induced, by the lamentable condition of this despairing bard, to write him a letter of consolation. It unfortunately fell into the hands of Tristrem, who became thereupon, first, poetically mad, like the enamoured Breton, and afterwards, outrageously frantic in good earnest. Our hero roves through the forest in this melancholy condition: but still, instinctively, exerts his prodigious strength in the conquest of monsters and giants, oppressors to the herdsmen, with whom he associated, and by whom he was fed. Like Orlando, in his encounter with Rodomont upon the perilous bridge, Sir Tristrem quells the arrogance of such errant knights as saw in him only a wandering lunatic. At length Mark, when hunting in the forest, finds Tristrem asleep among the shepherds, Paying little attention to so miserable an object, he winds his horn to recall his followers. The madman starts up at the wellknown sound of the chase, and utters all his hunting-cries, cheering his favourite Hodain, and calling him by name. Nevertheless. Mark does not recognise the nephew, whom he had so much cause both to love and to hate, but only rejoices in finding a fool, who could be so very amusing. He carries him to Tintagel, where he is acknowledged, first by his dog Hodain, and then by the lovely Ysonde. The skill of the latter completes a cure, already begun by the influence of her presence, and Sir Tristrem, pardoned by his uncle, incurs, by fresh offences, a new banishment. Tristan, f. cxviii.

Sir Canados was than,

Constable the Quen ful neighe.-P. 364, st. 66.

This enterprising constable, who hoped to succeed the peerless Tristrem in the love of the Queen of Cornwall, is the Cariados of Mr. Douce's Fragment. See p. 373. He is not mentioned in the folio; for the treacherous Canados must be carefully distinguished

produced by the rage of au affronted woman, and an incensed enchantress. It is probable that the madness of Orlando was copied by Ariosto, either from the romance of Tristrem, or from that of Lancelot.

Y-hated al so thou be,

Of all that drink wine.-P. 364, st. 70.

Oway rode Tristrem that night,

And Ganbardine biside.-P. 365, st. 78.

This hasty retreat of Tristrem and his friend greatly blemished the reputation of both, especially in the eyes of Brengwain. That trusty confidant of Queen Ysonde could connive at the arts of love, but not at the evasions of cowardice. Accordingly, scorning alike Tristrem and her own newly espoused husband, she quarrels even with her mistress, for still retaining a favourable opinion of them. At this part of the tale commences that Fragment in Mr. Douce's MS. analysed in p. 375, et sequen. The events which it contains, and details at great length, are briefly mentioned in the text, yet so as sufficiently to show that the story is precisely the same, although the circumstances, so concisely related by Thomas of Erceldoune, or by the reciter of his poem, are dilated and enlarged by the Norman minstrel; just as, in the preceding Fragment, events are only hinted at, which are narrated at length in the present text.

Coppe and claper be bare,

As he a mesel ware.-P. 365, st. 80.

The adventures of Sir Tristrem, while in this unpleasant disguise, are told at length, p. 373. Want of cleanliness, of linen, of vegetables, of fresh meat in winter, but, above all, sloth and hardship, concurred to render the leprosy as common in Europe, during the middle ages, as it is in some eastern countries at this day. Nor were its ravages confined to the poor and destitute. Robert de Bruce died of this disorder, as did Constance, Duchess of Bretagne, and Henry IV. of England. Various hospitals were founded by the pious for reception of those miserable objects, whose disease being infectious, required their exclusion from society. For the same reason, while they begged through the streets, they usually carried the cup and clapper mentioned in the text. The former served to receive alms, and the noise of the latter warned the passenger to keep aloof, even while bestowing his charity. In HENRYSON'S Testament of Creseide, that fair, but fickle, paramour of Troilus, is afflicted with leprosy, as a punishment for her inconstancy. Saturn denounces to her the sentence :

"Thus shalt thou go begging fro hous to hous,
With cuppe and clapper, like a lazarous."

Her father conveys her to the receptacle for such miserable objects :

"Whan in a mantel, and a bevir hat,

With coppe and clappir, wonder privily,

He opened a secret gate, and out thereat
Conveyed her, that no man should espie;
There to a village, half a mile therebie,
Delivered ber in at the spittell bous,

And daily sent her part of bis almous."

A leper-woman cuts short Creseide's long lamentation at this dismal change, and exhorts her to practise the trade, which was now to support her :

"Go lerne to clappe thy clappir to and fro,

And learn aftir the lawe of leper's lede."

Again, while she is begging with her miserable associates, Troilus, the lover whom she had betrayed, returns victorious from a skirmish against the Greeks. The lepers,

"Seeing that companie come, with o steven,
Thei gave a crie, and shoke cuppis, God spede
Worthie lords! for Goddis love in heaven,
To us lepirs part of your almon dede!"

The beautiful passage, which follows, is too long for insertion. Creseide looked on Troilus. He met her glance, and could not recognise the beauty he had adored, in the leprous wretch before him; but her look instinctively revived in his bosom "the spark of love," which had long lain dormant. His arm grew weary of bearing his shield, his heart glowed, and his colour changed; he knew not himself the cause of his disorder; but, throwing his purse into the skirt of Creseide, rode heavily onwards to the city. She recognised her lover, and died in despair.

I am informed, that there are in Italy a sort of beggars, remarkable for their impudence and pertinacity, who still make use of the cup and clapper.

Brengwain went oway,

To Marke the king sche yede.-P. 365, st. 81.

For the communications of Brengwain to King Mark, by which she procured the banishment of Canados; for the manner in which Ysonde coaxed her attendant back into her usual accommodating temper, and for Tristrem's exculpation from the charge of alleged cowardice, see the Analysis of the Metrical French Fragment, pp. 375-374.

A turnament that lete crie.-P. 366, st. 86.

This tournament was undertaken by Tristrem and Ganbardin, for the vindication of their character. They had an opportunity of avenging themselves of their enemies, and Meriadok and Canados fell under the lance of Tristrem. This corresponds with the Fragment, p. 374. In the folio, Andret (the Meriadok of Thomas) has not the honour of dying in the profession of chivalry, or by the arm of Tristrem. He attends the Queen when she enters a Breton vessel, from the motive, as she pretends, of curiosity, but, in reality, to go to the assistance of Tristrem, then mortally wounded. (pp. 197-238.) Genes, a faithful friend of Tristrem, commanded the vessel, and seeing Andret, the invidious persecutor of his master, in the act of passing the slippery plank, he cannot resist the temptation offered by so fair an opportunity, and pushes him into the sea, where he perishes. There are many tournaments mentioned in the folio, but no one corresponding to that in the text.

See the tale of the "Mantle Made Amiss," in WAY's Fabliaux, with ELLIS's Notes, and the ballad of the "Boy and Mantle," in Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. iii. In the last, Karados is called Craddoc, a name which he also bears in the metrical romance of Arthour and Merlin

"The thirti-fift was Craddoc,

An hardie knight in ich floc."