That may thou here in Str Tristram,
Over gestes it has the ateem,
Over all that is or was,

If men it sayd as made Thomas;
Bot I here it no man so say,
That of some copple som is away.
So thare fayre saying here beforne,
Is thare travaile nere forlorne;
Thai sayd it for pride and nobleye,
That were not saylke as thei.
And alle that thai willed overwhere
Alle that ilke will now forfare.
Thai syd it in so quaint Inglis,
That many wate not what it is.
Therefore heuyed wele the more
In strange ryme to travayle sore;
And my wit was oure thynne
So strange speche to travayle in;
And forsooth I couth noght
So strange Inglis as thai wroght,
And men besoght me many a tyme
To turne it bot in light ryme.

Thai syd if I in strange ryme it turn,
To here it many cu sald skorne;
For in it ere names full selcouthe,
That ere not used now in mouthe
And therfore, for the commonalte,
That blythely wald listen to me,
On light lange I it began,

For luf of the lewed man."

"Great names, but hard in verse to stand." While he arrogates praise to himself for his choice, he excuses Thomas of Erceldoune, and Kendale, for using a more ambitious and ornate kind of poetry. "They wrote for pride [fame] and for bles, not such as these my ignorant hearers." Thus, the testimony of this ancient historian, who was a contemporary of Thomas of Ereeldoune, establishes at once the high reputation of his work, and the particular circumstances under which it was written. While the English minstrels had hardly ventured on the drudgery of translating the French romances, or, if they did so, were only listened to by the lowest of the people, our northern poets were writing original gests "for pride and nobleye," in a high style and complicated stanza, which the southern harpers marred in repeating, and which their plebeian audience were unable to combend. In one word, the early romances of England were writ ten in French, those of Scotland were written in English. If the Editor has been successful in his statement, two points have been established: 1st, That the minstrels of the south of Scotland, living in or near the British districts of Reged and Strathclwyd, became the natural depositaries of the treasures of Celtic tradition, esteemed so precious in the middle ages; 2dly, That from the peculiar circumstances under which the English anguage was formed in the Lowlands of Scotland, and north of England, it probably was more early fitted for the use of the poet in that country, than in the more southern parts of the sister kingdom, where it was so long confined to the use of the populace. Whoever shall be tempted to pursue this curious subject, will find that this system, if confirmed upon more minute investigation, y account for many anomalous peculiarities in the history of English romance and minstrelsy. In particular, it will show why the Northumbrians cultivated a species of music not known to the rest of England, and why the harpers and minstrels of the North Countree" are universally celebrated, by our ancient ballads, as of unrivalled excellence. If English, or a mixture of Sato, Pictish, and Norman, became early the language of the Scottish court, to which great part of Northumberland was subjected, the minstrels, who crowded their camps,I must have used it in their songs. Thus, when the language began to gain ground in England, the northern minstrels, by whom it had already been Warton's Editor (Mr. Price) observes that this line is wrongly quoted-it "That non were sailk as they;"

bugs to sland

edhe interprets pride and nobleye," dignity and loftiness of expression.tle borealione quoque majoris Britanniae partibus, trans Humberum Eboradique fans, Anglorum populi, qui partes illas inhabitant, simul canendo phoniaca utamar harmonia; binis tamen solummodo tonorum differentiis, dom morialando varietatibus, una inferius, submarmurante, altera vero pe, demulcente pariter et delectante. Nec arte tantum, sed usu longsevo, qa in naturam mera dintina jam converso, hæc vel illa sibi gens hanc pecialitatem comparavit. Qui adeo apud utramque invaluit, et altas jam nina post, ut nihil hic simpliciter, sed multipliciter, ut apud priores, vel dpliciter, at apud sequentes, mellite proferri consueverit: pueris etiam, god magis admirandum, et fere infantibus (cum primum a fletibus in cantum pent) eandem modolationem observantibus. Gerald. Cambren. Camvia Descriptio, cap. xl. The author adris, that, because the custom of ng in parts was peculiar to the northern English, he supposes it to be derivfrom the Danes or Scandinavians. But it is easily accounted for, if the Borcodes were in fact the cradle of English minstrelsy. Vids Alred de Bello Standardi, ap. x. scrip. pp. 341, 342.

long cultivated, were the best rehearsers of the poems already written, and the most apt and ready composers of new tales and songs. It is probably owing to this circumstance, that almost all the ancient English minstrel ballads bear marks of a northern origin, and are, in general, common to the Borders of both kingdoms. By this system we may also account for the superiority of the early Scottish over the early English poets, excepting always the unrivalled Chaucer. And, finally, to this we may ascribe the flow of romantic and poetical tradition, which has distinguished the Borders of Scotland almost down to the present day. See PERCY'S Reliques, vol. i, p. 118. Complaynt of Scotland, p. 271. Border Minstrelsy, passim.

It is time to return from this digression to the particular history of the romance of Sir Tristrem, which, as narrated by Thomas of Erceldoune, seems to have gained such distinguished celebrity. In France, as appears from the author of the French Fragments, and from the evidence of Gotfried of Strasburgh, it was in the mouth of every minstrel, and told by each, according to his own particular fancy. But an often-told tale becomes disgusting and tedious; and, accordingly, the language of Sir Tristrem became at length proverbial among the discurs of France and Normandy.T In the meantime, a great change was operated on the shape of romantic fiction. The art of reading had become comparatively general towards the end of the thirteeth century; the monks, also, had pursued the paths of literature opened by their earlier brethren. To them, chiefly, are to be ascribed the voluminous prose rocal tales of the minstrel. These works generally set out with mances, which began, about this period, to supersede the metridisowning and discrediting the sources, from which, in reality, they drew their sole information. As every romance was supposed to be a real history, the compilers of those in prose would have forfeited all credit, had they announced themselves as mere copyists of the minstrels. On the contrary, they usually state, that, as the popular poems upon the matter in question contain many lesings," they had been induced to translate the real and Greek, or from the ancient British or Armorican authorities' true history of such-or-such a knight from the original Latin or which authorities existed only in their own assertion.** entitled, Le Romanz de Tristran, containing the adventures of The favourite tale of Tristrem was soon transposed, and seemand which, voluminous as it is, has never been concluded, was in ingly more than once. In the King's library is a large MS. folio, our hero, in a long prose narrative. A work of similar labour, the library of the late John, Duke of Roxburghe. But the most noted of these prose editions of Sir Tristrem (if, indeed, the others be aught but various and enlarged copies of it) is thus deduit de Latin en Francois, par Lucas, chevalier, sieur de chas scribed by Montfaucon; "Le Roman de Tristan et Iseult, trabooks of Gyron le Courtois occur, as translated into French by tel de Gast pres de Salisbiri, Anglois." Cod. 6776. Another copy of the same romance is mentioned, cod. 6956; and some are in the national library at Paris; but the book has been printed; and by a perusal of the printed copy the following remarks "Huc, seigneur du chateau de Gat." Cod. 6796. These MSS. have been suggested.

who translated the romance of Sir Tristrem from the Latin of Rusticien de Puise, seems to be as fabulous as his castle of Gast, The Luc, or Huc, lord of the castle of Gast, near Salisbury, or his Latin original. Why should a Latin history of Sir Triswhom was it calculated to convey either amusement or information? The pretended author, as well as the pretended translator, trem have been written during the thirteenth century? Or to must rank with Robert de Borron, author of Lancelot du Lac; with Desrains, the lineal descendant of Joseph of Arimathea, Cid Hamet Benengeli, who recorded the adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha. The merit of the prose Tristan, by author of the St. Greal; or, if the reader pleases, with the sage whomsoever written, is very considerable. Every French antiquary considers it as the best, as well as about the most ancient to use the words of the most interesting of their number. "Le roman de Tristan, et celui de Lancelot du Lac, eurent la plus specimen of their prose romance. The Editor begs permission grand reputation de leur naissance; leur touche est fort, les senti

might be another. Most of the ballads of Robin Hood are very modern. The
$ That of John Dory (Riteon's Ancient Songe) is perhaps a solitary exeep-
more ancient, as the Lytell Geste, seem to be written north of the Hamber.
tion to the general rule. Martin Swart and his Men, if it could be recovered,

Tristrem was printed at Paris, without a date. Very few French rhyming
There is a report, but highly improbable, that a metrical copy of the French
Metrical Romances, p. liii.
romances have come under the press; and the copies of all, but Le Roman de
la Rose, are of the last degree of rarity. Dissertation prefired to Ritson's
T See the Fabliau of Sir Hain and Dame Anieuse, where the following

Hainault, and adds, "Maintes gens en ont ouy conter et chanter, mais n'est ce
Thus, in a French prose romance of Charlemagne, the author says, that
he translated the work from the Latin, at the command of Baldwin, Count of
135. 4to edit. In like manner, the author of La vraye Histoire de Troye thus
mensonge non ce qu'ils en disent et chantent cil conteur ne eil jugleor. Nuz,
contes rymez n'en est vrai; tot mensonge ce qu'ils disent." Warton, vol. i. p.
qu'elle fut trouvee escripte en la main de Saint Pierre,en Gregois language, et du
Gregois fut mise en Latin; et je l'ay translatee en Francois, non pas par rimes
concludes: "J'ay ains mene a fin la vraye histoire de Troye, en la maniere
ni par vers, ou il convient, par fine force, maintes mensonge; comme font les
In the museum, there is a French version of Turpin, by a translator, who throws
the same opprobrious imputation upon the romances in rhyme. "Et pour ces
menestrels, de leur langues pompus, plaire, maintefois aux rois et aux contez."
que estoire rimee semble mensunge, est ceste mis en prose."

it with the metrical tales on the same subject. "Le roman de Tristan Leonis,
tt In general, they ascribe to it an absurd antiquity, because they confound
face, p. xxvi.
l'un des plus beaux et des mieux faits qui aient jamais ete publie, parut en 1190.
quotations of Chretien de Troyes and the King of Navarre, which he took
C'est le plus ancien de nos romans en prose.'
for granted alluded to the prose Tristan. Tressan has followed his prede-
M. de la Ravaillere also falls into this mistake, misled by the
La Combe, Dictionaire, pre-
cessors into the same error. Romans de Chevalerie, tom. i. f. 1. Fauchet led
the way into this blunder.

ments en sont elevés, les heros sont aussi galans qu'ils sont braves. Les heroines sont charmantes: nous n'osons trop refléchir sur leurs aventures; mais leurs foiblesses sont soutenues par un si grand caractère de courage, d'amour, et de constancele bon Rusticien a si bien l'art de leur prêter des excuses recevables qu'il faudroit etre bien sévère, pour les leur reprocher. La fidèle Brangien, dans Tristan, est le plus parfait modèle des amies: on s'attendrira pour elle, en voyant jusqu'à quel point elle porte l'heroisme, pour servir la belle Yseult. Personne ne sera tenté de plaindre le Roi Marc; et peut-être même quelques lecteurs s'intéresseront-ils au sort du brave Tristan et de la charmante Yseult, en lisant l'histoire de leurs amours et de leurs malheurs."-Extraits de Romans, tom. i. f. 4.

gin dit l' Angevin, and published, at Paris, in 1554, folio. It is far inferior to the original work. Allegory was then the prevailing taste, and, though it seems hard to wring a moral meaning out of the illicit amours of Tristrem and Yseult, Jean Maugin has done his best. Sir Tristrem is the emblem of the Christian perfection of chivalry, his fair paramour of heaven knows what! The History of Tristrem was not, so far as I know, translated into English as a separate work; but his adventures make a part of the collection called the Morte Arthur, containing great part of the history of the Round Table, extracted at hazard, and without much art or combination, from the various French prose folios on that favourite topic. This work was compiled by Sir Thomas Malory, or Maleore, in the ninth year of the reign of Edward IV., and printed by Caxton. It has since undergone several editions, and is in the hands of most antiquaries and collectors. Those unaccustomed to the study of romance, should beware of trusting to this work, which misrepresents the adventures, and traduces the character, of Sir Gawain, and other renowned Knights of the Round Table. It is, however, a work of great interest, and curiously written in excellent old English, and breathing a high tone of chivalry.

Of late years, the romance of Sir Tristrem has been beautifully abridged, from the prose folio, by the late Monsieur le Comte de Tressan, and forms the first article in his Corps d'extraits de Romans de Chevalerie. To this elegant abridgment all readers are referred, who may still wish for farther information, and are too indolent, or fastidious, to seek it in the original romance. It is now time to speak of the present publication.

Such being the merits of the French prose work, it remains to notice the particulars in which it differs from the metrical romance now published. Being changed from a short and simple tale into the subject of a large folio, the unity and simplicity of the story has suffered very much. We often lose sight both of Tristrem and Yseult, to assist at the exploits of the Varlet de la cotte mal taillee, and other champions, whose deeds have little reference to the main story. The author, finding it difficult, perhaps, to invent an entire dramatis persona, or willing to avail himself of prejudices already deeply founded in the mind of his readers, has associated his champion with the chivalry of the Round Table; so that the history of King Arthur and all his knights, became & legitimate accessary to that of Tristrem. The incidents narrated by Thomas of Erceldoune, with all the dilation of which they have been found susceptible, occupy only in the proportion of 60 folios to about 220 of the prose volume. The discrepancies betwixt the poem, and even the relative part of the prose narration, are occasionally pointed out in the Notes. What is lost in sim-lection of such pieces, of which the reader will find an account in plicity is, however, gained in art. The character of Palamedes, the unfortunate and despairing adorer of Yscult, is admirably contrasted with that of Tristrem, his successful rival; nor is there a truer picture of the human mind than in the struggles betwixt the hatred of rivalship, and the chivalrous dictates of knightly generosity, which alternately sway both the warriors. The character of Dinadam, brave and gallant, but weak in person, unfortunate in his undertakings, but supporting his mischances with admirable humour, and often contriving a witty and well-managed retort on his persecutors, is imagined with considerable art. The friendship of Tristrem and Lancelot, and of their two mistresses, with a thousand details which display great knowledge of human nature, render Tristan interesting in the present day, in spite of those eternal combats, to which, perhaps, the work owed its original popularity.

III. THE PRESENT EDITION of the Romance of Sir Tristrem is published from the Auchinleck MS., a large and curious colthe appendix to these observations, (No. IV.) The date of the MS. cannot possibly be earlier, and does not seem to be much later, than 1330, at least eighty years after the romance of Sir Tristrem had been composed. The immediate narrator does not assume the person of Thomas of Erceldoune, but only pretends to tell the tale upon his authority.

"I was at Erceldoune :

With Tomas spak Y thare;
Ther herd Y rede in roune,

Who Tristrem gat and bare," &c.
"Tomas telles in toun,

This auentours as thai ware.”

The late eminent antiquary, Mr. Ritson, suggested, that Tho mas of Erceldoune might himself assume the character of a third person, to add a greater appearance of weight to his own authority: it must be owned, however, that this finesse is hardly suitable to the period in which he lived. It seems more reasonable to conclude, that some minstrel, having access to the person of tory of Sir Tristrem, and, from his recitation, or perhaps after it had passed through several hands, the compiler of the Auchinleck MS. committed it to writing. As Thomas certainly survived 1284, betwixt thirty and forty years will, in the supposed case, have elapsed betwixt the time, when the minstrel might have learned the romance, and the date of its being committed to writing; a long interval, doubtless, and in which many corruptions must have been introduced, as well as a material change in the style, which, in poetry preserved by oral tradition, always fluetuates, in some degree, with the alterations in language. Accord as now published, will not find that it differs essentially from that of Barbour, who wrote a century after the Rhymer, although some traces of antiquity may still be observed, particularly in the ab sence of words of French derivation. On the other hand, if this romance be really the production of Thomas of Erceldoune, we must expect to distinguish the peculiarities pointed out by Robert de Brunne; that quaint English, which was difficult to compose; and that peculiarity of stanza, which no minstrel could recite without omitting some part of the couplet: For, although we may allow for the introduction of more modern words, and for corruptions introduced by frequent recitation, these general chaAnother instance of the same nature is the History of Ysaie racteristics of the original composition of Thomas must still be le Triste, a son whom Ysoude is supposed to have born in se- visible, or the romance which we read is none of his. Accordcret to her lover. This work was published at Paris by Gallyotingly, the construction of the poem, now given to the public, de Pre, in 1522, and is entitled, Le Roman du vaillant Chevalier bears a very peculiar character. The words are chiefly those of Ysaie le Triste, fils de Tristan de Leonnoys, Chevalier de la the fourteenth century, but the turn of phrase is, either from an Table Ronde, et de la Princesse Ysculte, Royne de Cornou-tiquity or the affectation of the time when it was originally writ aille; avec les noble proesses de l'Exille fils du dit Ysaie; re- ten, close, nervous, and concise even to obscurity. In every com duit du vieil languige au languige Francois, folio, black position of the later age, but more especially in the popular letter. This is a romance of faerie. Ysaie is under the protection romances, a tedious circumlocutory style is perhaps the most of certain powerful fays, who have assigned him, for his attendant, general feature. Circumstantial to a degree of extreme minuteTrone Nain, a dwarf, whose deformity is only equalled by his ness, and diffuse beyond the limits of patience, the minstrels never wit and fidelity. This page of Ysaie le Triste is subjected to a touch upon an incident without introducing a prolix description.§ law of extreme, and, it would appear, very unjust severity. This was a natural consequence of the multiplication of romantic Whenever his master was fickle in his amours, and he by no fictions. It was impossible for the imagination of the minstrels means copied the fidelity of his father Tristrem, the dwarf was to introduce the variety demanded by their audience, by the inunmercifully beaten by the fairies, his sovereigns. Upon the vention of new facts, for every story turned on the same feats of whole, the romance is very inferior to that of Sir Tristrem. chivalry; and the discomfiture of a gigantic champion, a lion, or In 1528, was published, at Seville, Libro del esforcado Don dragon, with the acquisition of his mistress's love, continued to Tristan de Leonys y de sus grandes hechos in armas, folio. be the ever recurring subject of romance, from the days of Tho At Venice, in 1552 and 1555, appeared Delle opere magnanime de mas the Rhymer till the metrical tales of chivalry altogether lost i due Tristan' Cavalieri invitti della Tavola Rotonda, two ground. The later minstrels, therefore, prolonged and varied the volumes, in 8vo. description of events, which were no longer new in themselves; and it is no small token of the antiquity and originality of the

This work was printed at Rouen so early as 1489, under the title of Le Roman du noble et vaillant Chevalier Tristan, fils du noble Roi Meliadus de Leonnoys, compile par Luce, chevalier, seigneur du Chateau de Gast, one volume folio, black letter. The book was reprinted at Paris, by Antoine Verard, with-Thomas the Rhymer, had learned, as nearly as he could, the hisout date, in two volumes folio; and a subsequent edition was published in two parts by Denys Janot, Paris, 1533, also in black letter. The same Denys Janot had already published what seems to have been intended as a first part to the history of Sir Tristrem, being Le Roman de Melladus de Leonnoys, Chevalier de la Table Ronde, ou sont contenues, avec les faits d'armes, plusieurs proesses de chevalrie faites par le bon Roi Artus, Palamedes, et autres chevaliers, estant au tems du dit Roi Meliadus: translate du Latin du Rusticen de Pise, et remis depuis en nouveau language, Paris, 1532, in folio, black letter. This ro-ingly, those who examine attentively the style of Sir Tristrem, mance is by no means void of merit; indeed, from many circumstances, we may conjecture it to have been written by the author of the prose Tristrem. The translator pretends to have received two castles from King Henry (the first of the name seems to be intimated) for his labours in compiling the St. Greal, and other books of chivalry, from original and authentic materials. The stories of the father and son have little connexion with each other, and the History of Melladus is only one instance, among many, of the custom of the romancers to avail themselves of the renown of any favourite work, by hooking upon it introductions and continuations without mercy or end.

The prose romance of Tristrem was modernized by Jean MauIn this, as we have seen, he is supported by the Welsh authorities. But oral tradition is always opt to lose sight of chronology, and to associate the distinguished personages whose memory it preserves. The tale of Thomas of Erceldonne, that of Raoul de Beauvais, if he was indeed the author of Mr. Donce's Fragments, and that of Mademoiselle Marie, are silent concerning the supposed connexion between Tristrem and Arthur. In the romance of Gawain and Gologras, however, Brengwain, the confidante of Y soude, is mentioned as a person well known to Queen Guenever:

"Quene was I somewhile, brighter of browes.
Then Berell or Brangwayn, these burdes so bold."

↑ Meaning, I suppose, the father and son.

[Mr. Price, however, while impugning Sir Walter Scott's theory as to the authorship of Sir Tristrem, affords evidence which would, no donbt, have been highly acceptable to him, of the oblique and prudish mode in which the authors of ancient romances sometimes chose to announce themselves. Thus Alexa dre de Bernay says:Alexandre nous dit qui de Bernay fu nez."-Ed. 7 Even Chaucer was infected by the fault of his age, and, with all nis norivalled capacity of touching the real point of description, he does not always content himself with stopping when he has attained it. It has been long since remarked, that when he gets into a wood, he usually bewilders both himself and his reader. But such a work as Sir Guy, or The Squire of Lone Degree, will best illustrate the diffuse style which characterizes the latter metrical romanos.

It is worth while to remark, that a complicated structure of stanza and thyme continued to be a characteristic of the Scottish poetry from this remote period downward. The reader may see specimens in King James VI.'s Rew-lologist-Early Edition.-This work has now been published, and has fully les and Cauiries of Scottis Poesie. Even in our day, the Bard of Ayrshire has injured some of his most beautiful productions by using the jingling stanza of the Cherry and the Slae. The additional short verse thrown in towards the end of each stanta, which occurs in Christ Kirk on the Green, Pebles to the Play, &c., seems borrowed from the stanza of Sir Triatrem.

APPENDIX, No. I.

CHARTER GRANTED BY THE SON AND HEIR OF THOMAS OF ERCELDOUN,

TO THE CONVENT OF SOLTRA.

FROM THE CHARTULARY OF THE TRINITY HOUSE OF SOLTRA, advocates' libBARY, W. 4. 14.

In addition to what has been said concerning Thomas's resi- by some of his descendants.

the stick, she will suspect it to belong to her lover. This was the purport of the characters traced on it:-"That he had long been waiting at a distance, in hopes of being favoured with some expedient which might procure him a meeting, without which he could no longer exist. It was with those two as with the cheore foil and the codre. When the honey suckle has caught hold of the codre, and encircled it by its embraces, the two will live together and flourish; but if any one resolve to sever them, the codre suddenly dies, and the honey-suckle with it. Sweet friend, so it is with us; I cannot live without you, nor you without me." Do not The Queen, slowly riding on, perceives the stick, and recog nises the well-known characters. She orders the knights who accompany her to stop. She is tired; she will get off her horse for a short time, and take some repose. She calls to her only her maid, her faithful Brenguein; quits the road; plunges into the thickest part of the forest; and finds him whom she loved more than all the world. Both are delighted beyond measure at this meeting, which gives them full leisure to concert their future projects. She tells him that he may now be easily reconciled to his uncle: That the King has often regretted his absence, and attributes to the malicious accusations of their common enemies the severe measure of his banishment. After a long conversation, the Queen tears herself from him; and they separate with mu tual grief. Tristran returned to South Wales, from whence he was soon recalled by his uncle; but, in the meantime, he had repeated to himself, over and over again, every word of his mis tress's late conversation; and, while full of the joy he felt at having seen her, he composed (being a perfect master of the harp) a new lay, describing his stratagem, its success, his delight, and the very words uttered by the Queen. I will tell you the name of the lay: It is called Goat-leaf in English, and Chevrefoil in French. I have now told you the whole truth.

I AM much pleased with the Lay which is called Chevrefoil. Let me relate to you truly on what occasion it was made, and by whom. Many persons have narrated the story to me; and I have also found it in writing, in the work which treats of Tristran, and of the Queen; and of their love, which was so constant, from which they suffered a thousand sorrows; and then both expired on the same day.* King Marke had been much offended with his nephew Tristran; and had banished him on account of his attachment to the Queen. The knight retired into his own country, into South Wales, where he was born; spent there a whole year of affliction; and being still forbidden to return, became careless of life. wonder at this; for a true lover, when his wishes are crossed by insuperable obstacles, can set no bounds to his grief. Tristran, therefore, thus driven to despair, left his home; passed into Cornwall, the abode of the Queen; and concealed himself in the thickest part of the forest; from whence he issued only at the close of the day, at which time he took up his lodgings among the peasants and the poorest of mankind. After frequent questions to these his hosts, concerning the public news of the court, he at length learned that the King had convoked his barons, and sum moned them to attend him at Pentecoste, at the castle of Tintapel. Thstran was rejoiced at this news; because it was impossible that the Queen could arrive at the meeting without giving ham an opportunity of getting a sight of her during the journey. On the appointed day, therefore, he took his station in that part of the wood through which the road passed, cut down a branch of codre, haze!) smoothed it, wrote his name on it with the point of his knife, together with other characters, which the Queen would well know how to decipher. He perceives her approaching; he sees her examine with attention every object on her road. In former times they bad recognised each other by means of a similar device; and he trusts that, should she cast her eyes on • Marie, who drew all her materials from Bretagne, probably refers to some Armorican edition of the history of these ill-fated lovers.

†This seems to allude to their secret communications by means of chips of wood thrown into a river.

APPENDIX, No. IV.

ACCOUNT OF THE AUCHINLECK MS.

ADVOCATES' LIBRARY, (W. 4. 1.)

AND A CATALOGUE OF ITS CONTENTS.

The MS. was presented to the Faculty of Advocates, in 1744, by Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, a Lord of Session, by the title of Lord Auchinleck, and father to the late James Boswell, Esq. the biographer of Dr. Johnson. Of its former history nothing is known.

THIS valuable record of ancient poetry forms a thick quarto | 44, seems rather in an older hand than the others, and may be an volume, containing 334 leaves, and 44 different pieces of poetry; exception to the general rule. some mere fragments, and others, works of great length. The beginning of each poem has originally been adorned with an illumanation; for the sake of which the first leaf has, in many cases, been torn out, and, in others, cut and mutilated. The MS. is written on parchment, in a distinct and beautiful hand, which the most able antiquaries are inclined to refer to the earlier part Many circumstances lead us to conclude, that the MS. has been of the 14th century. The pages are divided into two columns, written in an Anglo-Norman convent. That it has been comunless where the verses, being Alexandrine, occupy the whole piled in England there can be little doubt. Every poem which breadth of the quarto. In two or three instances there occurs a has a particular local reference, concerns South Britain alone. vanation of the hand-writing; but as the poems regularly follow Such are the satirical verses, No. 21, in the following catalogue; each other, there is no reason to believe that such alterations in the Liber Regum Anglia, No. 40; the Satire against Simonie, dicate an earlier or later date than may be reasonably ascribed No. 44. On the other hand, not a word is to be found in the colto the rest of the work; although the Satire against Simonie, No.lection relating particularly to Scottish affairs.